A town cut out of its own hillside

Bourg-sur-Gironde stands on a limestone bluff on the right bank of the Dordogne, a short way above the point where that river meets the Garonne. The stone under the streets was quarried out from below, taken downriver by barge, and used to build Bordeaux. This site is a record of that material and what it left behind.

How it is filed

Filed by what the stone did: cut, carried, left standing, or lived in. The estuary entries carry the tidal range they turn on. Four sections carry everything: The Galleries, Cut & Carriage, The Cut Face, Tide & Bore. Every entry is reachable from All entries without using a menu.

Language

The site is written in English throughout, whatever the domain name says. French words appear only where they are the right word for the thing — a mascaret, a gabare, calcaire à astéries — and are explained the first time they are used.

What this is not

This is an independent publication. It is not an official site of the commune of Bourg-sur-Gironde, and it is not connected to any body that manages the galleries or the river. Where the record is uncertain — and the extent of the underground workings genuinely is — the entries say so rather than filling the gap.

Corrections

Corrections, and photographs of the workings, are welcome: see Contact.