CARRIÈRE ET FOUR À CHAUX DE PINCOURT

More than a century and a half has passed since the history of the Pincourt boiler-making industry in Montjean-sur-Loire began. The site still has the buildings constructed by Edmond Heusschen, an engineer who took over the Société des mines et fours à chaux de la basse Loire around 1860. The limestone quarry, of coral reef origin, was already supplying the Orchère kiln and those on the Loire, but Edmond Heusschen decided to build this new lime kiln complex to extract the local resources of limestone and coal. This strong and original architectural complex, with its elliptical occulis on the walls and its fortress-like appearance, includes : – the director’s house with offices and tool forge, the stables and the walls of the lime sheds (joined cells) – the Sainte Barbe kiln (100 m3), square in cross-section, set against the mound of quarry spoil and limestone firing waste – the limestone and coal lift – the limestone quarry (Devonian primary limestone), whose lake more or less covers the quarry steps, depending on the season Quarrying stopped in 1892, but its morphology has remained intact. It features two blasting terraces with mine holes and two quarrymen’s shelters rising out of a sunken “sole” (the bottom of the quarry). This can be seen during periods of drought, when the water level in the quarry drops. Filling in of the quarry, which began in the east, has stopped due to its recognised function as a water buffer basin. In the 19th century, Montjean-sur-Loire was the largest port on the Loire in terms of the tonnage of goods transported.Visiting languages:French
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