Balade patrimoine Montaut : une bastide agricole et industrieuse

Confronted by Bigorre, which threatened her lands, the viscountess Margaret of Bearn signed a contract of protection that would ensure equality of rights and possessions with Arnaud Guilhem, the abbot of St Pé de Bigorre. From this political act, a new city between Bearn and Bigorre was born in 1308, a fortified town called Montaut, which would boost the economic and demographic development of the region. The chosen site, shielded from floods, was the Mons Altus, the High Mount, which became Montaut. Its extensive forests and subsoils rich with limestone led to the building of lime kilns, which would comfortably supply the needs of construction at the time and in the future.