Castres

Castres, the capital of an arrondissement in the department of Tarn, France, is situated on each side of the river Agout, which is crossed by two bridges. Founded about the middle of the seventh century of our era on the site of a Roman station (castra), it was one of the first places to embrace Calvinism, and is still the seat of a Protestant consistory. Henry IV. of Navarre had a residence here, but in the religious wars the walls and forts were destroyed by Louis XIII. The streets are not well built, but the Lices form an agreeable promenade. Cassimeres, silk and cotton fabrics, soap, glue, etc., are largely manufactured, and in the neighbourhood are valuable mines of coal, iron, lead, and copper. Rapier, Dacier, and Sabatier were born here.