Base Mérimée: Monuments historiques · France
Forge d'Etchaux
Saint-Etienne-de-Baïgorry, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, France
The record
- Designation
- Historic monument, registered (inscrit)
- Protection
- inscrit MH
- Extent of protection
- Forge (cad. F 217, 1264) : inscription par arrêté du 8 octobre 1996
- Protection dates
- 1996/10/08 : inscrit MH
- Type
- grosse forge
- Main period of construction
- 17e siècle, 18e siècle
- Ownership
- propriété privée
- Lieu-dit
- Etchaux
- Commune
- Saint-Etienne-de-Baïgorry
- Département
- Pyrénées-Atlantiques
- Region
- Nouvelle-Aquitaine
- Country
- France
- Coordinates
- 43.16317, -1.35899
- Mérimée reference
- PA64000007
Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.
David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesUniversity Library, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
5 historical maps cover this location, the earliest the 1636 map "Aquitaniae descriptio" (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries).
The Ministère de la Culture's notice
Historique
Les vestiges du haut fourneau à bois remontent aux 17e et 18e siècles. A cette époque, la famille d'Etchaux (Etxauz) possède la moitié de la forge à canons et boulets approvisionnée en minerai d'Ustéléguy. L'affinage en renardière permettait d'obtenir des fers d'excellente qualité recherchés par la Marine. L'activité est florissante mais la forêt des Aldudes s'épuise et, vers 1780, faute de bois pour les travaux de mines et pour la fabrication de charbon, le haut-fourneau est arrêté. La tour est massive, peu élevée, pratiquement cubique ; la cuve intérieure présente une section horizontale carrée. Ce type de cuve, abandonné au 19e siècle au profit des sections circulaires, est assez rare aujourd'hui.
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 remains of the wood-fired blast furnace date back to the 17th and 18th centuries. At that time, the Etchaux (Etxauz) family owned half the cannon and cannonball forge supplied with ore from Ustéléguy. Refining in the redoubt furnace allowed the production of iron of excellent quality sought after by the Navy. Business flourished but the forest of the Aldudes became exhausted and, around 1780, due to lack of wood for mining work and charcoal production, the blast furnace was shut down. The tower is massive, of low height, practically cubic; the interior hearth presents a square horizontal section. This type of hearth, abandoned in the 19th century in favour of circular sections, is fairly rare today.
Nearby in the register
Other entries of the same register within about three miles of this one, by straight line.