Maps
Hilltop
Rennes
The 18th century Carte de Cassini covers the whole of France, but on many separate sheets. I have copies of several from Languedoc. I've patched two of them together in the image on this page - but the fit isn't perfect and you can still clearly see the join.
Top left, on higher ground on the west bank of the Aude is Montazels, the birthplace of Abbé Bérenger Saunière. His future parish, the hilltop Rennes, is visible, but there is no road leading up to it and le château has not yet been added to its plain name.
On the opposite bank of the river is Couiza, later to become an important railway station. The village of Coustaussa to the east is clearly marked, though it can't have been more than a few houses. Here, too, a reclusive old priest died, in unusual circumstances, in 1897.
You can trace the valley of the important salt river Sals and find several fontaines minérales.
In the later 1700s, Rennes-les-Bains still went under its earlier name of Les Bains de Monferan. There is incontrovertible evidence that the village served in the first century CE as a therapeutic spa under Roman occupation. By then, the place had already been settled for many years by local Celts.
