The Bellevue bank and the bridge over the Cher

④ Quai Bellevue and the bridge over the Cher
In front of the panel, you see, on your left, the yellow building, location of the former municipal slaughterhouse which was built in 1871 and, on your right, the Bléré bridge.

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To go to stage ⑤ → Follow the Cher upstream. Cross the bridge to reach the sidewalk of the Quai du Port de l’Est. You are in front of the Crespières, a private property.

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Bléré’s first craft industry appeared here in the second half of
19th c. with the building of a gas works in 1866 and of the local slaughterhouse in 1871.

Other private industries would also settle in this part : foundries, mechanical industries, sawmills.

In 2020, just a few buildings remain as a testimony to the former activities.

© Photo : droits réservés

Before the present bridge, built in 1900, an earlier stone bridge had been ordered by Henri II, King of England, and was constructed in 1160 by Hugues II of Amboise, Lord of Bléré.
Aligned with the street now called rue du Pont it was 229 meters long and had 15 arches. In the middle stood a fortified tower later replaced by a mill, the vestiges of which are visible when the water level is low.
North of this was another smaller tower with a lift bridge.
Formerly, on the left bank, stood ‘les chantiers’ used for loading and unloading the cargo boats. On June 2 1940, the French army destroyed the bridge to slow down the German advance.

© Photo : droits réservés

Quiz
When was the first stone bridge built ?
1Charles Bidault square and the church of St Christophe 13The Aigremonts mill
2Le Belvedere 14La Coursicauderie
3The Foundry 15A vine lodge
4The Bellevue bank and the bridge over the Cher 16Le Grand-Logis
5Les Crespières 17Bois-Ramé
6The Cher and its needle dams 18The Monks’ house
7Chapel de Seigne 19Paul Racault space
8The cooperative and the demarcation line 20Trade and Cooperative Diary Industry
9The cemetery and its noteworthy tombs 21The lime kilns
10Bois-Pataud 22La Grisolette
11Fief Gentil and the Culoison mill 23The Chateau of Fontenay and the house called ‘du passeur’
12La Courtille wash house 24Les Grandes-Fontaines