L’Association Sainte Barbe des Mines (http://www.stebarbe.com/) was founded in 1982 to restore and preserve the Chappell Ste Barbe. A small church dedicated to the miners of the area. The association carries on its work and now focuses on promoting the mine activity of the past within the Loire-Layon area.
Since 2016, a small team of professionals supported by local communities, in particular L’Association Sainte Barbe des Mines and the Communité de Communes Loire-Layon, have been conserving geological sites of importance within the coalfields. The area has had a long history of intensive industrial activity built on the natural geological resources, however much of the above ground evidence of this past has fallen into a state of neglect or has simply vanished. We are currently undertaking multiple projects with the aim of preserving and promoting this coal heritage. Aided by modern recording technologies we are undertaking digitally conservation of the sites—allowing today’s and future generations to experience these important local geoheritage resources.
There is currently four main project within the coalfield:
- Work of L’Association Ste Barbe and the Communauté de Communes Loire Layon
- La Tranchée des Malécots & Mines des Malécots 1 et 2
- The Carboniferous plants from the Museum Angers
- The Carboniferous plants of the Museum Nantes