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Origin and history

The Saint-Pierre lime factory, located in Angrie in Maine-et-Loire, was built in 1866 by the Société Martin, Belouin, Denou and Goujon. The original project included four furnaces, but only two were built, integrated into a 14-metre-high polygonal masonry. Each oven, with a capacity of 60 m3, operated in continuous short flame cooking, alternating layers of limestone and coal. The load was carried out via a steam elevator, while the lime was extracted by arched slabs at the base. A wooden counter, still visible, was used to measure blasts, with daily production of up to 37 tonnes.

In 1871 the factory was bought by François Dumont, who rebuilt one of the ovens and added a horse stable. From 1889, it passed under the control of the Société des fours à chaux de la Veurrière, which also managed the sites of Veurrière and Fresnaie. The activity ceased in 1924, resumed briefly in 1957, and ended permanently in 1978. The lime produced was intended for agriculture and industry, in particular for the cleaning of metals in the Forges d'Hennebon. The site, registered with the Historic Monuments in 2006, also preserves the remains of a powder box, a foreman's home, and a career today drowned.

The site's industrial architecture reflects 19th-century lime production techniques, with a masonry massif covering the ovens, a niche dedicated to a statuette of Saint-Pierre (patron descarriers), and ancillary buildings (offices, warehouses). The steam elevator service and the spatial organization of the plots (furnace, quarry, housing) illustrate an optimized functional logic for intensive production. The Angrie lime oven is thus a rare and preserved example of industrial heritage linked to the exploitation of local resources, in a rural context marked by the rise of agriculture and regional metallurgy.

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