Cluzeau du Pétrou

English translation

The text above is the record as published by the Ministère de la Culture, in French. The English below is a machine translation made by TreeAlive, not by the Ministère de la Culture; it has not been checked by a person. Where the two differ, the original is the record. Report a translation error: privacy@treealive.com

History

Underground chamber excavated over 50 metres with iron pickaxes. The cluzeau begins with a staircase, at the bottom of which a trap pit was excavated. The first room would have served as a dining hall (remains of pottery shards and animal bones). Well no. 2, containing coal, ash, reddened stones and smoke-blackened pottery, was the kitchen from which smoke could escape. A second staircase leads to a second room which could have served as a bedroom. At mid-staircase, a virgule-shaped closing system could barricade the rest of the cluzeau from the outside. At the bottom of the steps, a small room called the fountain room, collects seeping underground water. Then, a corridor with three perpendicular segments allows one to delay the arrival of intruders, observed by a viewing gallery. In the third room, the well served as an emergency exit. A long terminal corridor, unfinished, would have provided an external exit.