"Among public buildings of the French rural heritage, the lavoir, or public wash house, is the most discrete and humble; though often the most beautiful. Unused & empty, they convey an impression of mystery & solitude, replete with ghosts & memories."
Mireille Roddier 'Lavoirs'
It was very hard to get much information in English online about these very old laundries. Eventually I found a cycling tour that involved canal towpaths & quiet roads, so I adjusted it, so that we could do a small tour by car. It was going to be an adventure!! The added advantage was that we would actually be stopping in the tiny villages we have, until now, been driving through.
The first Lavoir, was right where we are staying, in Serrigny. It is smack in the middle of the village, & although no longer used to wash clothes in, it is well looked after & bedecked with flowers. It seems to be fed from a spring.
Meandering through narrow roads, hoping that nothing else was coming from the other direction, we eventually found Commissey. The lavoir here was built directly onto a stream that had been diverted from the river nearby.
Women would gather here to wash their clothes in the flowing water. At the far end is a small brick addition called a pissoir...three guesses what that was used for!!
The lavoir of Baon was outside of the village & because we had trouble finding parking, we gained first hand experience of just how far the women had to carry all their dirty linen to the lavoir & then carry all the wet linen BACK!
Inside it was very dark, & although there was a small chimney in the far corner, a fire would not have reduced the cold very much from this place.
Cruzy-le-Chatel had a rather unique lavoir, because the one built in 1898, was literally attached to the original one.
There was no information about how old the original was, but it looked more like a grotto instead of a wash house, and now has fish swimming around in it's waters.
In the newer one, however, thought had clearly been given to the need for light, so that the women could actually see what they were doing!
When we got to Stigny, we were relieved to actually find the lavoir, which is UNDER the Mairie! (This is where the village Mayor does his thing.) In the previous village we had not been so successful. However...alas, the entrance to the lavoir was locked with a barred gate & there was no way we could squeeze in! Quite an image, to think of the village women under ground washing clothes whilst the men are literally up above ruling the world!
The lavoir of Ancy-le-France also had a locked door barring the way. We were able to see from above though, that it was roman in style...
...with the flow of water splitting the space into two halves. Elegant columns added to the Roman look.
The prettiest one we visited was in Argenteuil-sur-Armacon. This sat alongside a small lake, which was fed by the same source that was channelled into the lavoir. The village has clearly looked after this one, as it has tubs of flowers in each window, adding to it's attraction.
Lot's of light comes in, but beautiful as it is....this would have still been a very COLD clothes washing experience!
It was an unpleasantly humid day today, so a certain member of our party felt the need to share a few drops of this cool water with the rest of us!!
Our last lavoir for the day was outside the village of St Vinnemar. Again, a significant walk would have had to be made to the two lavoirs that face each other across a stream.
Sadly, these are quite neglected & the actual lavoirs seem to be flooded from the river, Maybe the recent rains & floods are the cause.
It may be a rather unusual trail to follow, but we enjoyed the adventure of finding these small functional buildings from the 1800's, even if the instructions we had weren't particularly clear.
There are lots more of these around this area, the most well known one being the Dionne Fosse in Tonnerre, which we plan to visit tomorrow. A trail like this does make one a little addicted to finding the unusual!!
