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The Pont du Roc is located at the entrance to Castellane, on the way to Grasse. For many years, it was the only bridge over the Verdon, making Castellane a strategic location. Today, it offers a beautiful view of the Verdon valley.
The Pont du Roc is part of the listed Roc site.
The existence of a bridge here goes back a long way, perhaps to ancient times. In 1252, we know of a bridge house, i.e. a hospice.
The present bridge was built in the early years of the 15th century by three master masons from Moustiers, Jean de Torr, Pierre Serralher and Sauveur Arnaud, in association with Orange carpenter and stonemason Jean Felizo. The work seems to have been carried out between 1404 and 1407.
The Pont du Roc has undergone consolidation work on numerous occasions. The archives record the intervention, from 1697, of Laurent Vallon, architect to the States of Provence, who reinforced the arch with 14 iron bars, seven of which were fixed under the intrados of the vault, and the other seven under the cobblestones of the roadway. Repairs and masonry work probably increased in number in the 18th and 19th centuries.
In 1928, a pipe leading from the Robion spring to the town of Castellane was fixed at the foot of the parapet on the upstream side. Four masonry buttresses were built on the downstream left bank side in the mid-20th century. In the 4th quarter of the 20th century, further major work was carried out, including the installation of imposing steel tie rods, the keys of which form large triangles and crosses, both large and small. Further tie rods were added in 2008.
Since 1982, the bridge has been closed to traffic, replaced by a new structure built a few metres downstream.
Architecturally, the Pont du Roc consists of a single arch (span 34 m, height under key 15 m), strongly lowered for the Middle Ages, to which masonry abutments give access. It forms a very pronounced humpback. Its total length is 43 m. The arch has a double row of keystones, both perfectly extra-dossed. The ashlars of the first have a very wide bed, in stark contrast to those of the second, which are two to three times lower and project slightly.
The bridge bears numerous marks of masonry repairs. The oldest parts, in medium-fixed ashlar, have a rusticated facing. They are still visible on either side of the lower spandrels, right up to the arch’s kidney. The rest is an accumulation of masonry repairs of varying degrees of stability, using rubble of various sizes. The system of metal tie rods designed by Laurent Vallon has been maintained and modernized.
Cf. https://dossiersinventaire.maregionsud.fr/dossier/pont-du-roc/6736b479-59b3-4121-bee5-c90b6b6598e3
Place Marcel Sauvaire
04120 Castellane-en