Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The oval barn of Breuilh, located in Saint-Yrieix-la-Perche in Haute-Vienne, dates from the mid-18th century. This type of building, typical of the Limousin, was characterized by a wooden structure on poles and a roof of rye stubble. Originally, about 2,000 oval barns existed within a 50 km radius around Saint-Éloy-les-Tuilleries (Corrèze), but their number decreased drastically in the 21st century, leaving only about fifty, often modified with sheet metal roofs.

The Breuilh barn is part of a rural complex classified as a Historical Monument on January 25, 1996, including a house dated 1756, a barn and outbuildings. In 1999, the community of communes of the Pays de Saint-Yrieix acquired it. In 2018, its steel roof was restored to thatch, regaining its original appearance. Despite this restoration, the adjacent home, at risk advanced in 2024, received funding of 110 000 € via the Lotto du Patrimoine for works planned between 2025 and 2025.

These ovalar barns, about ten metres high, served as a beating area, fenil, barn and shed for agricultural equipment. Their decline is due to the abandonment of thatch as a cover material, replaced by more durable but less authentic solutions. The entire Breuilh, with its soils, today illustrates a threatened rural heritage, preserved through targeted interventions and legal protections.

The site is representative of 18th century limousine farms, where livestock and cereal crops (like rye) dominated. The concentration of these barns at the junction of the Corrèze, the Haute-Vienne and the Dordogne reflects a local constructive tradition, which has almost disappeared. Their oval shape, adapted to climatic constraints and storage requirements, made them central to the farms of the time.

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