The Vieux Bourg wash house

The Vieux Bourg district was once a place where workers and small craftsmen lived and worked: nail makers, farriers, tanners, clog makers…

There were many tanneries, where leather was made from animal hides. The Saint-Gentien stream and the slaughterhouse are the main reasons for their location here. The latter was built in the Vieux Bourg for reasons of hygiene and cleanliness, to prevent butchers from killing animals in town. It was used until the 1960s, when the building became the fire station.

As early as the 13th century, slate quarries in the Grées were exploited by the Lords of Rochefort. Despite the name “Les ardoisières de Rochefort-en-Terre”, the quarries were actually located in the communes of Malansac and Pluherlin. They employed almost 500 people in the second half of the 19th century, including Rochefort residents living in Le Vieux Bourg, who worked as slate splitters or perreyeurs (the name given to workers in the quarries).

In a text published in 1887 in the magazine “L’écho des mines et de la métallurgie”, the Rochefort-en-Terre slate quarries are described as follows: “The current company dates back to 1860 (….): it operates (…) four open-cast or gallery quarries. It employs 350 to 400 workers and produces 16 million slates a year (…), shipping its slates all over France. (…). With regard to Rochefort slate, it is worth emphasizing its hardness, elasticity and resistance to bending, the primary qualities of all slate schists.