Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Forges des Salles, founded in 1623 by Henri II de Rohan on the communes of Sainte-Brigitte (Morbihan) and Perret (Côtes-d'Armor), is a rare example of a Breton steel village from the 17th to the 19th century. Located in the Quénécan forest, the site operated local ore, charcoal from the surrounding massifs, and hydraulic power from four ponds designed to operate blades and bellows. This industrial project, entrusted to the master of Protestant forges Geoffroy de Finement, introduced innovations in Brittany such as the split iron (hydraulic rolling of iron), specialized in nail rods exported to Bordeaux.

The activities of the forges were linked to the military (arsenals of Brest and Lorient) and agricultural needs, but also to the religious tensions: Rohan, leader of the Breton Calvinists, saw there a way to strengthen a threatened Protestant community. After his death, successive leases (especially with local nobles) maintained production despite recurrent conflicts for forest resources. The French Revolution saw the site between two departments (Morbihan/Côtes-du-Nord), complicating its management. In 1795 the Chouans of Boishardy looted the forges, carrying weapons and cannons.

In the 19th century, under the Janze family (owner from 1802), the site reached its peak with 500 tons of steel annually, three blast furnaces, and an autarchic working town of 150 to 200 people. However, the competition of coke forgings (notably English, favoured by the 1860 Treaty) and the exhaustion of forests condemned the activity: the last blast furnace was extinguished in 1877. Janzé's family tried a conversion (moulin to tan, logging), but the decline was irreversible. The isolation of the site however allowed its exceptional conservation, "fossilizing" a unique industrial heritage Breton.

The 20th century marked the end of community life: the school closed in 1968, the café-grocer in 1954, and the last inhabitants left in the 1980s. Since 1981, facades and roofs have been classified as Historic Monuments. In 1992, the Association of Friends of the Halls (created by the family of Pontavice, descendant of Janze) opened the site to the public and undertook its restoration. Today, the place combines tourism (10,000 to 15,000 visitors/year), unusual accommodations, and preservation of an industrial ecosystem where workshops, workers' housing, and terraced gardens coexisted.

The architecture of the Forges des Salles reflects a hierarchical social organization: the Rangé (12 houses of aligned blacksmiths, built at the end of the 18th century) contrasts with the mansion of the master of forges, dominated by a terraced garden (Thabor) and an orangery. The utility buildings (coal halls, tan mill, chapel without bell tower) and hydraulic infrastructures (channels, ponds) illustrate the ingenuity of pre-industrial systems. The site, labeled Country of Art and History in 2020, symbolizes both Breton technical innovation and the limits of an economic model dependent on local resources.

The trades of the forges formed a complex community: coalmakers, bagiers (carrying ore and coal on the back of a horse), marechaux, blowers, and destabilous women (cleaning the cast iron pieces) coexisted with the clerks and manager, a key figure in day-to-day management. The canteen, a social place, also served as a grocery store and hostel. Despite harsh living conditions (e.g. pond-related fevers, low wages), the workers in the Halls enjoyed envied stability, with access to school (created in 1833) and to basic care provided by the Daughters of the Holy Spirit. The final closure in 1877 marked the decline of the Breton steel industry, replaced by the Lorraine and English factories.

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