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Brickerie des Touillards-Vairet-Baudot in Ciry-le-Noble en Saône-et-Loire

Patrimoine classé
Patrimoine industriel
Briqueterie
Saône-et-Loire

Brickerie des Touillards-Vairet-Baudot in Ciry-le-Noble

    R.D. 974
    71420 Ciry-le-Noble
Briqueterie des Touillards-Vairet-Baudot à Ciry-le-Noble
Briqueterie des Touillards-Vairet-Baudot à Ciry-le-Noble
Briqueterie des Touillards-Vairet-Baudot à Ciry-le-Noble
Briqueterie des Touillards-Vairet-Baudot à Ciry-le-Noble
Briqueterie des Touillards-Vairet-Baudot à Ciry-le-Noble
Briqueterie des Touillards-Vairet-Baudot à Ciry-le-Noble
Briqueterie des Touillards-Vairet-Baudot à Ciry-le-Noble
Briqueterie des Touillards-Vairet-Baudot à Ciry-le-Noble
Briqueterie des Touillards-Vairet-Baudot à Ciry-le-Noble
Briqueterie des Touillards-Vairet-Baudot à Ciry-le-Noble
Briqueterie des Touillards-Vairet-Baudot à Ciry-le-Noble
Briqueterie des Touillards-Vairet-Baudot à Ciry-le-Noble
Briqueterie des Touillards-Vairet-Baudot à Ciry-le-Noble
Crédit photo : CHABERT Louis - Sous licence Creative Commons

Timeline

Révolution/Empire
XIXe siècle
Époque contemporaine
1900
2000
1863
Foundation of the brick factory
1874
Black brick patent
1892
Construction of second plant
1927
Death of Ernest Vairet
1967
Final closure
1995
Repurchase by the Commissioner
2008
Historical monument classification
Aujourd'hui
Aujourd'hui

Heritage classified

In total, the buildings of the brick factory, i.e.: the metal bridge, the storage halls, the inclined plane, the manufacturing workshops, the dryers, the ovens, the shipping lanes (see Box II). AP 17, cf. plan annexed to the Order): Registration by Order of 12 September 2008

Key figures

Jean-Baptiste Baudot - Founder and industrial Creator of the brick factory in 1863.
Ernest Vairet - Head and son-in-law of Baudot The factory was restored in 1896.
Antoinette Vairet - Chief Executive Officer after 1927 Plant management until the 1950s.
Marcel et Philippe Fournier - Architects of workers' housing Design the buildings in 1924-1925.

Origin and history

La Briqueterie des Touillards-Vairet-Baudot, founded in 1863 in Ciry-le-Noble by Jean-Baptiste Baudot and Pierre Giroux, initially produced terracotta pots before specializing in bricks and tiles. In 1874 Baudot bought an acid-resistant vitrified brick, while the factory extended with four rectangular furnaces. The company, first named Baudot-Baudot, became a key player in the "Ceramic Valley" along the Centre Canal.

In 1892, a second factory was built 400 metres upstream, marking the foundation of the company Vairet-Baudot with Ernest Vairet, son-in-law of Baudot. The latter retired in 1919 to devote himself to fish farming, while the factory modernized with a railway connection and worker housing (1924-1925). After the death of Ernest Vairet in 1927, his widow led the company until the 1950s, when production declined before finally ceased in 1967.

Disused, the factory was purchased in 1995 by the Creusot-Montceau Scroll. Integration projects enable it to be safeguarded, and the site is listed as historical monuments in 2008. Partially closed in 2021-2022 for problems of stability, it reopened in 2022 with guided tours and cultural activities. The archives, partly digitized, are kept by the ecomuseum and the National Archives of the World of Labour.

The site preserves ovens (including a large one-storey round oven), two chimneys, industrial machines (wagonnets, turbines, manufacturing lines) and family and professional archives. The buildings, made of limestone and brick, illustrate the industrial architecture of the period. The brick factory now offers exhibitions and concerts, highlighting its technical and social heritage.

The factory was equipped with twelve battery ovens (1900-1916) and two circular ovens (1923), as well as a hydraulic turbine still in place. Its activity, centered on refractory bricks and pavements, marked the industrial history of Saône-et-Loire. The site, owned by an association, remains a major testimony of the pre-industrial era and local working life.

External links