Municipalities of the Pays Viennois

 

Eyzin-Pinet has 1816 inhabitants (based on the 1999 census) for a surface area of 2844 hectares, making it the largest municipality in the Vienne agglomeration. The boroughs of Eyzin-Pinet and Chaumont account for most of the population.

Like many rural villages, however, this municipality contains dozens of hamlets that are like little villages sprinkled across the countryside. Even its name is evocative: the old form of the name Eyzin, in the 11th century, was 'AYSINIS ' or ' AYSINUM ', which could suggest 'water', and PINET (from 'PINUS') meaning 'pine'. Two naturally-occurring elements in this municipality, which has an attractive site including an agricultural grain where cereals are grown, wooded hills, and the Gère valley with its abundant underground water supply and 300 to 400 poplar plantations. Under these natural conditions, it is hardly surprising that Eyzin-Pinet has remained a mainly rural municipality.

Eyzin-Pinet has a long and significant history

In Gallo-Roman times, with its rich underground water reservoir, the municipality helped to supply water to the town of Vienne.  Two aqueducts went from Eyzin-Pinet to Vienne. Their exact route can be traced from the Puy mill to the east of the village. In 1898, in the playground of the old school in the middle of Eyzin village, these two aqueducts are marked in sections to the Saint Benoît pass in Vienne, and from there until the town of Vienne: they zig-zag a great deal according to the gradient of the terrain, such that the 10 km distance that separates the Puy mill from the Saint Benoît pass actually becomes 21 km!

The two Eyzin aqueducts are amongst the longest of the eleven supplying Vienne (the longest is 23 km). In the Middle Ages, Pinet had both a castle and a Carmes convent. The 12th-century Pinet tower is the only remnant of the fortified castle of which a wall overlooking the modern road and a few wall sections are all that is left.

Eyzin belonged to the district of Pinet, which was very important in mediaeval history of the dauphin period. The castle belonged to the illustrious and powerful Beauvoir-de-Marc dynasty until it was handed over to the dauphin Humbert II in 1336, and then to the king of France in 1349.

The Carmes convent was created by Guigue de Beauvoir on 15 April 1329. The monks were expelled from Pinet during the Revolution, and the convent was burned down in 1822. All that remains is the place known as Carmes. Eyzin-Pinet still has these ruins and a few fortified buildings, such as the castle of Montfort.  The municipality was born on 14 May 1823, when Eyzin became Eyzin-Pinet.