Site de Grignon

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

The commune of Grignon was created by the importance of this strategic point on the Canal d'Orléans. The site comprises three zones. On one hand, the Direction headquarters for the Canals of Orléans and Loing (or the receiver's house), formerly grouping together technical services. It is a vast building with two storeys whose avant-corps is covered with tiles. The building has lost its right wing but the outbuildings and the square pigeon house are still in place. The garden has retained vestiges of the original water features. On the other hand, three sluice gates with locks and their lock keeper's houses: the Lower Grignon lock, which has wooden gates with recently refitted counterpoises and whose lock keeper's house survives, the Middle Grignon lock with its exit aqueduct and the lock keeper's house. This lock is separated from the Upper Grignon lock by a small lake about a hundred metres long; their gates are in poor condition. Finally, in 1818, the site grouped together repair workshops for carpentry, wheelwrighting, and deposits of cement, iron and coal. It was a centre for the trade in timber from the Orléans forest. Boats passed through the Lower Grignon lock, arrived in a pond, then turned at right angles to reach the Middle Grignon lock. Today, the small forge building is empty. It was built according to a design of 1821 and presents virtually a decorator's ornament with its gables adorned with pediments pierced by an oculus.