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Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Couëron lead tower, built between 1875 and 1878, is the latest French example of this type of industrial building dedicated to the manufacture of lead shot for hunting cartridges. Growing at approximately 69 metres (or 60 metres depending on the sources) for a diameter of 11.30 metres, it operated by precipitating molten lead from its top. During its fall, the metal, mixed with 8 % arsenic and diantimon to harden it, was fragmented into spherical balls before being recovered in a water pan at the foot of the tower. The workers then manually sorted the logs, packed for encartouching.

This monument is part of the industrial history of the Loire estuary, an area marked by metallurgy since the 18th century. The site of Couëron, with its foundries and rolling mills (established in 1861), benefited from the proximity of the port of Nantes, then the first French port, for the supply of raw materials and the export of finished products. The tower ceased operations in 1957, after 79 years of production, before being classified as a Historic Monument in 1993. Today it symbolizes the industrial heritage of the Niger, bought by the municipality after the permanent closure of the factory in 1988.

The tower was integrated into the Couëron foundry and mill complex, founded in 1861 to process lead and laminate copper and brass. This site had several successive acquisitions: by the La Vieille factory around 1935, then by the Société des mines et smelters de Pontgibaud, and finally by Tréfimétaux. The surrounding industrial buildings, now owned by the city, bear witness to this time when Couëron was a major metallurgical pole of the Lower Loire, linked to the rise of shipbuilding and river-sea transport.

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