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Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Leroy de Livarot factory, built in 1841 by Jean Lambert-Fournet, an industrialist and mayor of Lisieux, was originally a flax mill. Installed on the site of an old wheat mill, it symbolized the growing industrialisation of Normandy in the 19th century. In 1847, a Woolf steam machine, manufactured in Rouen, was installed there to supplement hydraulic energy.

In 1899, the factory was converted into a factory of packaging boxes for Livarot cheese, rented to Georges Leroy and Eugène Ridel. The latter diversified production to plywood after 1911. A fire in 1919 led to partial reconstruction, while a new steam engine, acquired in 1905 from the Crépelle workshops in Lille, became the centre for electricity generation (continuous and then alternating current).

The site, served by a railway line from 1907, employed up to 260 workers in 1917, partly housed in a working-class town financed by Georges Leroy. After World War II, reconstructions took place, but activity ceased in 1988. The steam engine, protected in 1989, and several buildings (dryer, engine room, fireplace) were listed as historic monuments in 1988. Today, the site belongs to the municipality, which is considering its heritage development.

The factory illustrates Norman industrial evolution, moving from textile spinning to wheat production, while integrating technological innovations (vapor, electricity). Its architecture combines brick, wood and metal, typical of 19th century industrial constructions. The adjacent working-class city, with its stone and brick dwellings, bears witness to the living conditions of the workers of the period.

Among the remarkable elements, the 300 horsepower steam machine, which was functional until 1968, is a rare vestige of the industrial era. The Teisset-Brault (1919) turbines and the Jeumont generator-alternator (after 1944) mark the successive technical adaptations. The factory, a communal property, remains a symbol of Normandy's industrial heritage, linked to the economic and social history of Livarot-Pays-d-Auge.

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