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Origin and history

The forges of Uza, founded in 1759 by the Marquis Pierre de Lur-Saluces for his son Henri Hercule Joseph, mark the beginning of the industrial steel industry in the Landes. Using the local resources (iron mine from the garluch, charcoal from the sea pines, and hydraulic energy from the Vignac Creek), this rural forge initially produces pellets for the Bayonne navy and arsenal. Its activity, interrupted during the Revolution by the emigration of its owner, hardly resumed in the nineteenth century before experiencing a golden age under the Second Empire.

The forge then specialized in the parts for the railway, thanks to contracts with the Compagnie du Midi during the construction of the Bordeaux-Irun line (1854–64). In 1860, in the face of the exhaustion of local deposits, the site diversified its supplies and built a water reservoir forming the pond of the forge (6 ha). The peak coincides with the creation of the commune of Uza in 1872, which emerged from the dismemberment of neighbouring territories. However, competition from the Adour Forges (Tarnos, opened in 1881) and high costs led to the shutdown of the blast furnace in 1903.

Production is then limited to second-merger casting until the final closure in 1981, marking the end of the rural Irish forges. Today, only the machining workshop remains, registered with historical monuments in 2004. It is still home to machine tools and tools that bear witness to this industrial adventure. The blast furnace has been shaved. The Uza forge remains a symbol of pro-industrialisation in rural areas, where wage employment has changed the traditional social order.

The site is part of a network of Dutch forges founded between the 18th and 19th centuries (Pontenx, Ychoux, Pissos, Castets, Brocas), all missing except the modern steel industry of Tarnos. Its history reflects the challenges of small local industries in the face of capitalist modernization and concentration. The water hold and the church of Saint-Louis (1867–69) were the other remains of the time.

Ranked among historical monuments, the forge of Uza illustrates the unknown industrial heritage of New Aquitaine. Its decline is due to depletion of resources, competition and technical obsolescence, but its legacy persists in local memory and landscapes transformed by the artificial pond.

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