QR Manglieu 2
The winegrower and the fuller
A winegrower’s house
Very numerous in Limagne, winegrowers’ houses can be recognised by their external staircase leading to the first-floor dwelling, and the porch opening onto the ground floor housing the vat room, cellar and sometimes a press.
These houses bear witness to the importance of vineyards in Auvergne, whose products were praised by Sidoine Apollinaire, Bishop of Clermont in the 5th century. In the 19th century, the Puy-de-Dôme became the third largest wine-producing department in France, before its vineyards were wiped out by phylloxera in 1890.
However, Manglieu is a modest village in this respect, compared with other Limagne communes such as Dallet or Vic-le-Comte, where vines were everywhere. Here, each farm grew a few rows of vines to make wine for their own consumption.
A fuller’s workshop
A notarised deed from 1895 shows that this vast house was used for a completely different purpose, as it contains evidence of a grain mill and a fulling mill. The purpose of fulling sheets was to remove grease, felt them and make them more supple. It involved beating them in vats filled with water and various other substances. This was continued by the many weavers who settled in the village throughout the 19th century.
Image captions
- The stone staircase leads to outside steps protected from the weather by an eave.