Marseillan (French pronunciation: [maʁsɛjɑ̃]; Occitan: Massilhan) is a commune in the Hérault department in southern France.

[2] The port of Marseillan is a protected heritage site, and the altar and organ in the church are also listed.

But both names are derived from the Greco-Phoenician Massaliotes who extended trading routes from the eastern Mediterranean.

Marseillan sits on a large lagoon, the Étang de Thau, and is the southern entry to the Canal du Midi.

Marseillan-Plage station has rail connections to Agde, Sète, Narbonne, Montpellier and Avignon.

Sheltered by the mountains of the Massif Central the weather systems from the north are seldom a problem.

This has always been so because from its foundation Marseillan has been a major trading centre, a port and a stopping-off point for travellers.

When the village was founded there was a clean inland waterway paralleling the Mediterranean - described as "une petite mer intérieure et tranquille".

Over the years this waterway silted up, forming the series of Etangs, the largest of which being the Étang de Thau, but then the Canal du Midi opened and Marseillan, as the Entreport, was a major beneficiary.

Its location means that Marseillan became a crucial link in the network of canals that still encircle France.

Mussels are taken from the rich band of mussel-friendly water that runs along the Mediterranean coast from Marseillan to Marseilles.

Marseillan fishermen work 3 km from the shore, with the Agatois in larger boats fishing further out.

His son, with an English partner (Mr Prat), came to Marseillan to commercialise their product because the local wines were very suitable and the climate was ideal.

A popular stopping point on the long routes along the Mediterranean shore, Marseillan has provided travellers with a welcome since the village was founded.

From the second century BC Marseillan was protected by earthworks, but by Roman times it had a timber stockade.

Typically they are of three storeys, with a stable on the ground floor, living space on the first and fodder stored on the second.

With the houses protected from mosquitoes by zinc screens, and in the heat of the Midi, it must have been barely tolerable even to people born into the village.

Some larger homes were owned by the entrepreneurs who typically moved out of the village and into the main boulevards from around 1870.

Construction is typically of torchis bricks made from sun dried clay and straw.

Therefore lime mixed with sand from the beach was used rather than cement (which hardly flexes), and cracks in the façade are normal.