Day 15: Visit to Slate Museum, Trélazé

Sun 15 Sept 2024

Sadly today is my last day in France and being Sunday most things are closed. We have a very leisurely start to the day and enjoy croissants and coffee for brunch.

In the afternoon we head to the Slate Museum (Musée l‘Ardoise) in the town of Trélazé not far from Angers. Earlier when Dominique had said that was where her mother had worked I had misunderstood – her mother was a nurse and had worked at the slate mine itself. Accidents in slate mines are quite high.

Slate played a large part in the history of the region, reportedly back to the 6th century. From the 12th century, slate was used to build walls and dug from holes no more than 4m deep with workers carrying it up on their backs or in wheelbarrows. The first slate quarry at Trélazé was in 1406. From the beginning of the 16th century, the quarries grew much larger and more numerous as slate is used for roofs of churches, castles and houses. Those original roofs are likely still in place as slate lasts hundreds of years. Slate is still required for roofs in the region.

From the 1960s slate from Spain was increasingly used as it is cheaper to produce. Over the next 40 years there were waves of closures of slate mines. Today, the slate quarries employ only 180 workers for an annual production of 9,000 tons of slate mainly destined for the restoration of National Trust Monuments. The creation of a centre to make the best possible use of slate surplus resulted in new markets such as road products and decorations for landscapes.

We arrive at the museum just in time to join a tour (in French, so Dominique translates where we can’t understand). First we go through the museum with information about the geology that led to the formation of slate. I was surprised by the range of different colours of slate from around the world – some are very green or even purple. There are displays of history of slate in the area, lives of the miners and their families, and models of the mine setup along with old equipment (including the personal protective gear: wooden shoes and padded fabric tied to the shins).

We also see some spectacular models made of slate (including one of the Angers Castle) and learn about the artistry involved in some of the magnificent roof shapes. Slate from this region is less brittle than some from other areas which means that it can be used for extremely intricate ‘lace work’. There is even a model of the Eiffel Tower in slate.

After the museum tour we have a live demonstration of the tools and equipment used in making slate. Traditionally slate was cut by men and it was considered that women weren’t physically strong enough to do the work. During World War I, women had to take the place of men at the mines and innovations were needed. As well as strength, there was the legal issue of women not being permitted to wear trousers (that law was not repealed until 2003!) Their skirts got in the way when they tried to cut the slate between their feet as the men did. Machines were developed including vices that held the pieces of slate on a table so that women could stand up straight rather than bending over. The women also specialised in different tasks, increasing the quality and quantity of the slate produced (men traditionally produced 800 per day whereas women could produce 1200). This caused a lot of issues when men returned and were resistant to change.

In our tour group was a man who had been a slate roofer for 30 years, he came up to show how they cut the tiles to different shapes, and how they overlapped and hung the tiles for waterproofing. He also showed how they could replace one tile if required (by rotating the surrounding tiles away and sliding a tool underneath to remove the nail).

That evening we celebrated my last night with the Royal Rouge Crémante de Loire sparkling wine we had bought yesterday – both as an aperitif and with dessert Dominique had bought from the patisserie.