Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Fumel foundry, located in the Lot-et-Garonne, is a vast industrial complex created in the 2nd half of the 19th century by the Société Métallurgical du Périgord. Originally specialized in the production of railway equipment, it rapidly diversifys its production to water pipes, urban gas beaks and machine tools. The site, served by rail and river, extends 240,000 m2 (80,000 m2 of which are built) and includes stone, brick, or metal workshops, as well as a hydropower plant and workers' housing.

In 1870, the foundry installed a Watt-type blower machine, built in England, to power its blast furnaces. This double balance machine, made of cast iron and bronze (200 horsepower, 10 metres wide), works until 1954 before being restored in 1986. During the First World War, the factory contributed to the war effort by making shells. In the mid-war, it modernized with the help of the Pont-à-Mousson Foundries (1935), building a hydroelectric dam (1940-1942) and specializing in shirts for marine engines and automobiles.

From 1945 to 1969, the Société Minière et Métallurgical du Périgord (which became a subsidiary of Saint-Gobain in 1970) invested heavily: a third blast furnace (1968) increased production capacity to 100,000 tonnes/year. The site employs up to 4,000 employees (with subcontractors) in the 1970s before the decline of blast furnaces (arranged in 1987). Today, the factory, converted to the car foundry (Société Aquitaine de Fonderie Automobile, 1988), retains major heritage elements such as the blowing machine classified as Monument Historique in 2009 and the workers' towns built between 1940 and 1964.

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