Les fours à tuiles

Lost heritage The craft of tile-making began as early as the 13th century, but there are no records to indicate whether it was practised in the Brizambourg area at that time. Evidence of medieval open-air kilns has been found in the region (unearthed during excavations), but brick-built kilns probably did not appear until the 18th century. Moreover, a tile found in the hamlet of Les Quimant, now on display at the Mestreaux Museum in Saintes, bears the inscription: “This tile was made by me, Pierre Vinet, in the village of Les Quimant, parish of Ecoyeux, on 1 June 1710”. Around fifty kilns were located in the southern part of the commune, where this wooded area rests on clay soil suitable for tile-making. Almost all the inhabitants were involved in this trade; they sometimes owned several kilns for this purpose. These kilns were located in the following hamlets: at Quimant’s, at Petit Bois, Les Egreteaux, Les Houmiers, Maison Neuve, at Merlet’s, Le Poteau and south of Le Marreau. In addition to tile-making, these kilns were also used to produce bricks, earthenware or the lime required by local masons. Lime is a flexible and porous binder used in the construction of walls, but also for whitewashing the façades of houses. The clay-rich region of Saintonge, where the greatest number of craftsmen working with clay (tile makers, potters, ceramists) have been found since the mid-13th century, is mainly contained within an area bounded by the villages of Vénérand, Le Douhet, Saint-Hilaire de Villefranche, Ecoyeux, Brizambourg, Saint-Bris des Bois, Sainte-Césaire and La Chapelle des Pots. The Napoleonic cadastral map of Brizambourg, drawn up in 1819, shows these kilns situated along the route from Les Houmiers to Le Poteau. This craft industry therefore played an important role in the economic life of the market town and the surrounding villages in the early 19th century. From the 1880s onwards, improvements in equipment and transport links, which opened up markets further afield, led to the industrialisation of some establishments. However, a large number of workshops continued their artisanal production right up until the First World War. They produced items for domestic use, such as everyday crockery, which were sometimes sold beyond the region’s borders. Architecture and setting of the kilns In the 18th century, the tile kiln was most commonly a so-called ‘vertical kiln’. Built of rubble stone with a brick lining, it has a square plan and stands 5 to 6 metres high. Its firebox is situated beneath the firing chamber and is fuelled by bundles of wood. This type of kiln, which is open-topped, requires a temporary vault to be constructed for each firing. During the 19th century, another type of kiln appeared: the horizontal kiln, known as the "reclining kiln". Rectangular in plan, it was also built of rubble stone with a brick lining, but what distinguished it from its predecessor was that it was covered by a vault topped with a layer of earth or sand and a tiled roof. In the mid-20th century, the so-called “cell” kiln replaced the earlier types. Rectangular in plan, it was made of metal with a refractory brick interior. Near a kiln there was a space large enough to store the clay upon its arrival, a south-facing drying shed for drying the tiles, and sometimes a pond for various water needs. On the Napoleonic cadastral map, one can see that a few ponds are present next to certain kilns.