Informations directionnelles

Poursuivre jusqu’au départ.

Prochain point : Coordonnées GPS : X : 49.045957 ; Y : 1.825813

Montalet-le-Bois,
Nestled in the Valley

At the Foot of the Watershed

Montalet lies at the lowest point of a watershed, half of which is covered by woodland. These woods chiefly blanket the limestone slopes, too steep to allow agricultural use. The village developed itself in a narrow valley, set between two modest hills: the Côte de la Fille and the Côte aux Moutons. The commune includes two hamlets: Les Férets to the north and Damply to the south.

Shaped by Watercourses

This valley-bottom location dictated both the layout of the village and its communication routes, which largely follow the valley floor and the course of the River Bernon. Today’s Rue André Godet and Rue de Megrimont were already the main streets shown on early maps. They intersect just beyond the original confluence of the Bernon and the Ruisseau des Férets, clearly marked on the 1782 plan d’intendance. Later hydraulic works altered this meeting point, though it seems to have been a decisive factor in the village’s settlement. By 1899, the principal route was the path from Meulan to Lainville. The construction of the modern Meulan road in the 20th century relegated this route, which has since become the “Chemin de la Croix de Damply”, a waymarked walking trail.

A Patchwork of Crops

Montalet-le-Bois has always been an agricultural commune. In 1899, the schoolmaster recorded in the village monograph the presence of the typical crops of the Vexin: cereals, forage plants, root vegetables, and, on the hillsides, small plots of vines. He also noted the cultivation of willow, used for binding and in cooperage, as well as thistle, traditionally employed in cloth carding. Livestock farming was limited, apart from poultry, though local farmers did keep a few animals that grazed the meadows.