Restored metal headframe of the puits de Champ-Robert at Saint-Barthélemy-d'Anjou, a surviving chevalement from the Fresnais ardoisière sector of the Trélazé basin situated at the boundary of the commune.
The puits de Champ-Robert at Saint-Barthélemy-d'Anjou is a surviving metal headframe from the ardoisières of Trélazé, located on the confines of the commune of Saint-Barthélemy-d'Anjou near the Fresnais sector. The ardoisières of Trélazé extend onto the territory of Saint-Barthélemy-d'Anjou at their western edge. The puits de Champ-Robert formed part of the Fresnais extraction complex operated by the Ardoisières d'Angers.
Its metal headframe has been restored. The Commission des Ardoisières d'Angers was formed in 1891 and became the Société des Ardoisières d'Angers in 1963. Open-cast working ceased in 1899 and all extraction became underground.
The carrière des Fresnaies had a history of serious accidents: an accident on 14 December 1860 killed nine workers, and on 13 July 1877 a further six were killed in the same quarry. The puits de Champ-Robert is named by Wikipedia among the six surviving chevalements from the eight that stood across Trélazé. Its headframe is situated in the proximity of the puits N°25 des Fresnais.
The ardoisières of Trélazé extend onto the western confines of the commune of Saint-Barthélemy-d'Anjou, where the Fresnais sector and associated shafts including the puits de Champ-Robert are located. Slate extraction at Trélazé and its immediate surrounds is documented from the ninth century, with the first recorded open-cast quarry at Tire-Poche in 1406. By the mid-eighteenth century there were quarries at La Paperie in Saint-Barthélemy-d'Anjou, and the military intervention of 1910 during an ardoisier strike reached both Trélazé and Saint-Barthélemy-d'Anjou.
The principal companies operating the Trélazé-Saint-Barthélemy-d'Anjou basin were the Commission des Ardoisières d'Angers, formed on 1 January 1891, which became the Société des Ardoisières d'Angers in 1963, and the Société des Ardoisières de l'Anjou, formed in July 1894. The last open-cast quarries closed in 1899. The carrière des Fresnaies had a long history of accidents.
On 14 December 1860 an accident killed nine workers in the Fresnaies quarry. On 13 July 1877 a further six workers were killed in the same quarry. On 4 July 1883 the collapse of an underground vault at la Paperie killed 13 workers.
The puits de Champ-Robert formed part of the Fresnais extraction complex at the western boundary of Trélazé and Saint-Barthélemy-d'Anjou. The Fresnais exploitation was one of the two principal underground production sites of the Ardoisières d'Angers at Trélazé, alongside the Grands-Carreaux. Patrimoine-minier.fr identifies the puits de Champ-Robert as part of the Fresnais sector and notes that its chevalement has been restored.
The puits de Champ-Robert is situated in proximity to the puits N°25 des Fresnais, with the two shafts forming part of the same Fresnais extraction complex. The Fresnais descenderie closed in 2009. The full closure of the Ardoisières d'Angers followed on 29 March 2014, following the announcement on 25 November 2013 that the gisement was exhausted.
The metal headframe of the puits de Champ-Robert was subsequently restored and is named by Wikipedia as one of the six surviving chevalements from the eight that stood across Trélazé. The former ardoisière territory, including the Saint-Barthélemy-d'Anjou fringe, was classified as a zone naturelle d'intérêt écologique, faunistique et floristique after the 2014 closure.
