Cale de l'Abreuvoir Washhouse

The wash-house of the Abreuvoir slipway

The Mont-de-Marsan audio-guided tour presents you with the wash-house of the Abreuvoir slipway, the most visible and best known of the seven public wash-houses that the city still has, at the edge of the Midouze.

A wash-house in the time of river trade

Built in 1870 on the left bank of the Midouze, the wash-house came to replace an older structure. At the time when Mont-de-Marsan lived to the rhythm of river trade and the coming and going of barges, its basin also served as a watering point for the horses, which could quench their thirst there and rest between two transports of goods from the port. The water came from surrounding springs, gathered by underground aqueducts. In the shape of a half-ellipse and composed of ten arcades, this wash-house features in a work devoted to the hundred finest wash-houses of France.

What there is to see

The wash-house charms with its elegant half-ellipse shape and its ten arcades, at the edge of the Midouze. A witness to daily life and the river past of Mont-de-Marsan, it offers a pleasant stopping point along the walk beside the river. It is one of the finest wash-houses of France, to be discovered in its setting of greenery.

Practical information

The wash-house of the Abreuvoir slipway is on the left bank of the Midouze, in Mont-de-Marsan. It can be contemplated freely at all hours and on the level, along the walk beside the river.

When was the wash-house of the Abreuvoir slipway built?

In 1870, on the left bank of the Midouze, replacing an older structure.

What was the function of the wash-house basin?

Besides washing the linen, it served as a watering point to quench the thirst of the horses that transported goods from the port.