Quillan (or Quilhanin Occitan) is a French commune located in the Aude department in the Occitania region. The town is located in the foothills of the Pyrenees at an altitude of 300 meters. The nearest large towns are Carcassonne and Perpignan.
History
According to legend, the town owes its name to the three hills surrounding it, “Trois Quilles”. The city was supposedly founded in the X century on the right bank of the Aude River (previously the river was called Atax). A castle arose here later, which from the 12th century belonged to the archbishops of Narbonne. A new district appeared in the same century on the left river bank. The old district was a maze of streets that have survived to the present day.
A wooden bridge connected the two banks; a stone one replaced it later.
The town was quite rich. There was a mill built on the Aude River, and the river served to transport logs from nearby forests. The river was of strategic importance until the advent of the railway at the end of the 19th century.
Catholics and Protestants captured Quillan alternately during the religious wars despite the defensive ramparts around the town. However, the town regained its prosperity after the religious wars, due to the processing of iron ore in a place called La Forge.
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