To the jury's report

of the National Exhibition of 1806, the Forge of Montolieu is awarded a gold medal for its fabrications of iron. The cost, however, of road transport, combined with difficulties in the supply of beech wood and competition from industries employing more modern methods of production, forces owners to cease all metallurgical activities around 1820.

Transformed partly into spinning mills, the buildings changed owners in 1823 and in 1863, when the whole was bought by Messrs. Casimir Degrant and Prosper Lacombe, manufacturers of sheets in Carcassonne.
Also appear on the plan: a whip, a fulling mill, a pottery.

Paul Lacombe

Paul Lacombe, visionary, musician composer, operates in 1880 the daring metamorphosis of the paternal good inherited in castle and park of the high bourgeoisie carcassonnaise. He draws the garden and plants indigenous or exotic species thus testifying to his interest in the botanical discoveries of his time and his love for life as it spontaneously proposes on its land.

In 1910, Jeanne and Louis Gazel

In their turn, they acquire La Forge and continue to embellish their domain; in particular, by adding a beautiful 1930's orangery. From audacious families of engineers to Puicheric and rich winemakers in Olonzac, they invite progress in the form of electrical installations / turbine, telephone, cars, carriages ... Mr. Gazel travels and dies young while Madame lives then recluse thirty years at La Forge.