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« ... Champcella, the "hidden field" which served for centuries as a granary, sheltered from the looters who surged all over Briançon ... »
(Extract from a document about Champcella)
Located on the right bank of the Durance, in the south of the Pays des Ecrins, the small community of Champcella comprises 14 typical hamlets, spread out from 1100m to 1450m altitude, with a total population of 140 inhabitants.
300m above the Durance, on the sunny side, Champcella is at the entrance to the Freissinières valley. The Byaisse River runs through the valley and flows into "Gouffre de Gourfouran" (an abyss) not far from the village", to then join the Durance
Relationships between Champcella and Freissinières were not always easy with never-ending struggles for the possession of pastures in the Val Haute, as related in certain documents: "a fight broke out over access to the pastures , there was a fierce struggle where three men from Freissinières and seven from Champcella lost their lives. The tribunal in Embrun condemned the men from Freissinières to marry the widows from Champcella!"
The plain at the foot of the Gouffre de Gourfouran also belongs to Champcella. This is the site of Rame, where the electricity power station was built at the beginning of the 20th century to supply a factory at the Roche de Rame, and where you can find the Rame chapel, the remains of the old castle of the Lords of Rame and an important Roman resort discovered in 2003 and still under study.
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