THE FOUNTAIN-WASHBOARD OF BOURG-NEUF
Its construction is linked to the Bourgneuf district which developed to the west of the medieval enclosure. The houses are connected to Chemin du Lavoir by stairs built on the old ramparts. They were taken down to fetch water from the fountain and do laundry chores. The washhouse is made up of two basins and flat stones or boards on which the washerwomen soaped or beat the linen.
This fountain-washhouse is mentioned in the municipal registers in 1609 under the name of Cappellade fountain and was, until the mid-1960s, before water supply, the nerve center of the Bourgneuf district. Here is the testimony of a resident who remembers this recent past:
“This Bourgneuf fountain was very famous because the water was very fresh and most of the women of Sordes came at midday with their jug to collect water. They waited sitting on the stones of the washhouse and that's where we learned the stories of the village.
It was the housewives' meeting. »
(Source: Pays d’Orthe Cultural Center)