People on Stilts: How Shepherds from the French Landes Fooled the Swamps and Made History (18 photos)

In the Landes region of southwestern France, right on the coast of the Bay of Biscay, lies a vast pine forest. It is the largest tract of maritime pine in Europe, a species native to the Mediterranean.





But just 100 years ago, the landscape here looked completely different. Instead of forests, an endless plain, covered with stunted shrubs and dry heather, stretched to the horizon. Locals regularly burned these lands to make way for pastures. In the mid-19th century, about a million sheep grazed in these areas.



Landes is a department in southwestern France.

The flocks were tended by shepherds who walked on tall stilts. This method had several advantages. Firstly, the high ground provided an excellent view, allowing them to keep several flocks scattered across the plain in sight. Secondly, the long stride allowed them to cover vast distances quickly. But most importantly, the stilts protected them from the marshy ground that the plain turned into after the slightest rain.





Until the early 20th century, stilts were actually used to make life easier for people, and shepherds relied on them to keep an eye on their flocks from above, 1936

In fact, almost the entire population of Landes walked on stilts on rainy days to avoid getting stuck in the muddy ground. This method of transportation was so effective that a person on stilts could easily keep up with a trotting horse.



Not only were locals able to move more easily, but they were also said to move extremely quickly on stilts; as fast as a horse at full speed, 1908.

Locals called this unique means of transportation "tchanges," meaning "long legs." The wooden stilts reached approximately one and a half meters in height. A footrest with a strap was attached to them, and the upper part, flattened and fitting snugly against the foot, was secured with a strong leather strap.



Illustration of a mid-19th-century postman. 1850

The lower end, where the stilts touched the ground, was widened and sometimes reinforced with sheep bone for strength. The shepherd carried a long staff. It served both as a support for climbing onto the stilts and as a sort of hook for steering the flock. The stilts were so comfortable and stable that the shepherd, sitting on his high perch, often knitted to pass the time.



Trained to walk on stilts from childhood, many shepherds achieved incredible virtuosity. They could pick up a pebble from the ground, pluck a flower, pretend to fall and then nimbly right themselves, or run on one leg.



Joséphine de Beauharnais

In 1808, when Empress Josephine traveled to Bayonne to meet Napoleon, the city authorities sent an escort of young Landes stilt walkers to entertain the ladies of the court.



When Napoleon Bonaparte's wife, Josephine, visited the Landes in 1808, she was greeted by a cortege of stilt walkers, who accompanied her carriage into town, trotting alongside her.

The ladies delightedly challenged them to races, throwing coins on the ground and watching them try to pick them up, sometimes tumbling head over heels off their stilts.



Couple on stilts. 1913

Stilt races were an essential part of any celebration in the villages of Gascony. Young men competed in speed and agility, and even girls, who were as skilled on stilts as the men, took part in these competitions.



Sylvain Dornon

Sylvain Dornon became the most famous stilt walker. In 1891, he walked on stilts from Paris to Moscow (over 2,800 kilometers) in just 58 days.



French shepherd on stilts. 1930

The custom of walking on stilts gradually disappeared in the Landes region beginning in the mid-19th century, when the systematic planting of vast pine forests began. This forever changed both the landscape and the local way of life. As the pine plantations expanded, the moorlands disappeared, sheep farming became a thing of the past, and with it the famous figure of the shepherd on stilts, which had become a symbol of the region.



Stilt dancers from the Landes region walk through London to a performance at the Royal Albert Hall. 1937



French shepherds on stilts





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