Cournon Bridge

At Cournon-d’Auvergne, several different bridges have crossed the river Allier since the 1st century BCE. Some vestiges of former bridges are still visible.

From the first century BCE, under Agrippa (62-12 BCE), a Roman bridge crossed the river Allier at Cournon d’Auvergne, along which the military route ran from Lugdunum (Lyon) to Saintes via Augustonemetum (Clermont-Ferrand). This was a strategic route that crossed the Cournon territory from east to west. Starting at the present-day SNCF train station in Clermont-Ferrand, it more or less followed the railway line to the heights of the Le Cendre train station and passed close to the Ribeyre before joining the Allier. Depending on the level of the river Allier, you can sometimes see a few remains of the piers of this Roman bridge.

A bridge was subsequently mentioned in the 13th century in several texts. It was apparently swept away in the early 15th century and, for close to four centuries, it was replaced by a ferry which became the sole means of transport across the Allier. In 1833 the Cournon d’Auvergne town council decided to build a suspension bridge to replace the ferry. Construction began in 1837 and the bridge was inaugurated on 27 June, 1839. This first suspension bridge was designed by the engineer Kermaingant. Various landowners from Cournon d'Auvergne and Pérignat-lès-Allier carried out the construction work in exchange for a 60-year toll franchise. One of these owners was the musician Georges Onslow (1784-1853), who owned the Château de Bellerive (La Roche-Noire). Lava stone piers from this bridge remain clearly visible close to the current bridge. It underwent several major renovations, including after an accident caused by American trucks in 1918, a dramatic event that remains etched in local memory. The suspension bridge was replaced in 1959 by a bridge with a metal arch and reinforced concrete deck. This bridge is still in service today and was widened in 2023.