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THE BALANCING WELL IN FRANCE
Christian Lassure
french version
1 - THE SWEEP FOR DRAWING
WATER: AN OVERVIEW
The sweep (or swipe) for drawing water is an ingenious
elevating device using a first-order lever turning in its middle about a pivot
and carrying a vessel at one end and a counterweight at the other. A slight
variation of the weight on one of the two arms of the lever is sufficient to set
the latter rocking. Erected over a well, cistern, pond, or water stream, this
lifting apparatus turns into child's play what would otherwise be a tiresome
job. A well-known instance of sweep is the Egyptian shadouf.
Already extant in Antiquity and common in the Middle Ages, the technique is,
or used to be, widespread from France to Japan. It
is, or was, to be found not only
in the Far East, Western Africa, North Africa, but also throughout Europe.
The device goes under the names of cegonha
in Portugal, mezzacavallo in
Italy, brunnenschwegel in Germany, vippebronden in Denmark,
kutostor in Hungary, cumpana
in Romania.
In France alone, in
1986, there remained a few surviving examples of sweeps in as many as 36 départements
(*),
where they are known, according to regional dialects, as cigogne /
cigounho, canlèvo,
banlèvo, manlèvo,
gruo, brimbale. This last designation, originating in Charente,
migrated across the Atlantic to French-speaking Quebec together with the device.
The sweep for drawing up water, as encountered in Europe, consists of four
elements:
1 - a fixed vertical element (the support or upright),
generally either a tree trunk topped by a fork, or a post ending with a
fork-like mortise or pierced at the top by a through mortise, or sometimes twin posts; it acts as a
pivot or fulcrum;
2 - a rotating horizontal element, i.e. a metal or wooden axis running through
the fork or the fork-like mortise or the through mortise; it enables the sweep to swivel;
3 - a mobile horizontal element (the beam or sweep proper),
consisting of a long tapered rod resting on the upright; to its thinner
arm – the load arm or jib –on the water's side, is
fastened the hanging system; to its thicker arm – the force arm or tail
– on the opposite
side, is fastened a counterweight;
4 - an articulated hanging element, a wooden bar or an iron rod fastened to the
jib's end by a short upper chain and prolonged by a long lower chain with a
hook.
Because of the counterweight weighting its tail arm, the beam, when at
stanstill, tilts to the side opposite the water, resting either on the ground or
in a fork, or again on a trestle.
In practice, it is necessary for the bar to be pulled down in order to lower the
jib arm and sink the vessel into the water. But once the vessel is filled, the
two arms of the beam come into balance again, and it only takes a slight pull
upwards to initiate a rocking movement that will lift the water-filled bucket.
While the pulley is employed in connection with deep aquifers, the use of the
sweep is confined to shallow water-tables and, naturally, water streams. Several
sweeps can be placed in successive levels to raise water to the required level,
as in Egypt, on the Nile banks, or they can be operated side by side, on the
same level, to achieve continuous irrigation, as in the Sahara oases.
In the European rural environment, the sweep for raising water is likely to have
been built by:
- an individual farmer, either on a river bank to irrigate a kitchen garden or a
cultivated field, or in a farmyard to draw rain water from a cistern;
- a small community on communal land inside a hamlet or a village, to provide
drinking water to people and cattle or to supply a wash-house;
- a craftsman, such as a brickmaker, to collect the water necessary
to mold clay bricks or tiles.
Today, the tall silhouette of the machine is gradually
being obliterated from the rural landscape by technological progress (in
the form of mains
water supply and pumps).
(*) Not including Territoire de Belfort, where a few
specimens are still extant today, and Meurthe-et-Moselle
and Alpes-Maritimes, two départements in which early-twentieth century
postcards bear out the existence of the device.
Bibliography
Henri Polge, Typologie du cigognier, in Documents et archives pour la recherche sociolinguistique
méridionale, 1976, No 1, pp. 18-23.
Christian Lassure, Une vieille technique de puisage
en perdition : le balancier à tirer l'eau, Etudes et recherches
d'architecture vernaculaire, No 6,
1986, 40 p.
Christian Lassure et François Véber, Le puits à
balancier communal de Fonniovas à Sorges (Dordogne). Etude ethno-archéologique
in L'architecture vernaculaire,
t. 10, 1986, pp. 27-32.
Christian Lassure, Sur quelques constructions à pauxfourches, balanciers de
puits et bâtiments de type halle dans le nord-est de la Dordogne, in L'architecture
vernaculaire, t. 13, 1989,
pp. 81-86.
Serge Avrilleau, Christian Lassure et François Véber,
Elévateurs à balancier d'Adoux-bas et d'Adoux-haut à Sarliac (Dordogne), in L'architecture vernaculaire,
t. 13, 1989, pp. 89-92.
Christian Lassure, rubrique Well-sweep,
dans Encyclopedia of Vernacular Architecture of the World, edited by Paul
Oliver, Cambridge University Press, 1997, vol. 1, VI, Services, p. 494.
Michel Rouvière, Sur quelques systèmes hydrauliques en Ardèche méridionale, in L'eau en Ardèche. Ses usages, ses enjeux, ses contraintes,
Mémoire d'Ardèche et Temps Présent, No 90, 15 mai 2006, 100 p.
2 - THE BALANCING WELL
THROUGH POSTCARDS
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MEURTHE-ET-MOSELLE |
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At the vanishing point of roof eaves,
stands out a well sweep poised on its upright, amidst firewood piles and
manure heaps. A cast-iron water pump can also be seen against the façade
of the house nearest to the photographer. |
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A closer view of the same well swipe. It
faces the row of houses, the well being in the middle of the open yard
called usoir outside one of the houses. The post is probably the work of a
carpenter as evidenced by its decorative head piece and the hollow through
which passes a beam weighted by a piece of wood. The hanging element
comprises a wooden bar at the end of a chain. The bucket stands on the
well brim. |
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An even closer view of the same device. Its
elaborate workmanship is obvious: the thickened foot of the post ends with
a triangular decor on all four sides; its head piece, carved to look like
a pyramid with a rounded top, rests on a narrow stem. The axis of the beam
seems to be made of wood. The wooden element weighting the beam's tail
seems to be a reused piece from a former support. The hanging element
comprises not just one but two bars linked to each other by a short iron
chain. The parallelepiped lying to the left of the well is a drinking
trough. |
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The well sweep in the background is the
twin brother of the previous one (same carved head piece on top of the
post). Both devices were to be destroyed with the rest of the village in
August 1914. |
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LANDES |
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The legend on the back reads: "In the
Landes country – Old balancing well".
With the trunk of a young tree for a post, a long perch for a beam, a
metal pin running through the fork's prongs for an axis, this water sweep
is a most rudimentary contraption. As the post is slightly tilted towards
the well, its foot has been propped up by a couple of stays. When the
machine is a standstill , the bucket hangs a few centimetres above the
well's brim. |
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The legend on the back reads: "Landes. A
Landaise farm and Landaise well".
A balancing well in the area round Aire-sur-Adour. The upright is a young
forked tree, the flail a perch hinged on an iron pin that runs through the
fork's prongs. Contrary to local rule, the bar is arched, not straight.
Overall, a simple but rudimentary device, not unlike other existing
Landaise well sweeps. |
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The legend on the back says: "Landes. A
Landaise farm and Landaise well".
The post is a young forked tree, hardly thicker than the beam that hinges
round a metal axis in the fork. A pail hangs from a long bar fastened by a
chain to the jib. The device is at standstill, so that the pail hangs a
few dozen centimetres above the well's rim. |
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The upright is a forked tree, the beam
is a pole hinged round a metal axis running through the fork's prongs.
The hanging system – probably a
bar – is barely visible. The
machine is at standstill, with its jib up and its bucket hanging a
score centimetres above the well's rim. Since no counterweight is
visible, one can conclude that the man in the picture is holding the
beam down. |
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The legend says:: "In Gascony - Silents
witnesses of the past: the old well".
The farmer's wife, holding the bar with both hands, lower the bucket into
the well. The post is a forked tree, the beam is a thick pole weighted by
a piece of wood fastened to its tail end. |
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SAÔNE-ET-LOIRE |
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The Balorin farm at Louhans, Saône-et-Loire.
While one would expect the farmer's wife to be photographed drawing water
from the well, the photographer has been content with catching her simply
feeding the poultry.
The device is obviously the work of a carpenter : a squared post with a
diamond-pointed top, a through mortise for the beam to pass, the upper part
of the post strengthened by two binding pieces, etc. The beam is a tree
trunk whose upper part (or jib) has been squared and made thinner. |
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This so-called "Bressanne farmhouse" is in
fact the Balorin farm shown in the previous postcard. This time, the
sweep is seen from the farmhouse's side, which is why we get a glimpse of
the timber-framed barn with its ears of maize hung under the overhanging
roof eaves. In this second shot, we can see the device up close,
especially the unsquared tail of the beam, the through mortise, the metal
axis and the bar for drawing water. |
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VIENNE |
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A particular feature of this machine is its
post heavily tilted in the direction opposite the well, resulting in its
flail being almost perpendicular to the ground. The upright is a thick
squared post ending with a fork-like mortise in which the beam – also
squared – swivels. The length of the bar for drawing water is an
indication of the depth of the aquifer. |
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HAUTE-VIENNE |
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Part of the legend ("à balancier") is
apparently missing.
The device is quite an impressive sight judging from the diameter of the
upright and that of the forked post serving as a stop for the beam. |
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CÔTES-D'ARMOR |
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This Côtes-d'Armor well swipe is in a
different league from its counterparts in the Landes region, judging from
the diameter of its upright and the squaring of its beam. The force arm is
weighted by an iron cauldron fastened to its lower end. The hanging
element seems to have no wooden bar, only a chain (a sure way to avoid
splinters...). The foot of the upright is buttressed by three stays. The
opening of the well is amazingly narrow. |
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3 - REVIEWS PUBLISHED IN THE JOURNAL
L'ARCHITECTURE VERNACULAIRE
ROUVIERE Michel, Les balanciers de puits ou
« manlèves » du bas Vivarais, in Revue des enfants et amis
de Villeneuve-de-Berg, 1990, pp. 18-27 (review by Christian Lassure, in
L'architecture vernaculaire, t. 14, 1990, p. 68).
In this article,
Michel Rouvière points out that a number of swipes for drawing water are still
standing in the commune of the Assions in the Ardèche département. In their
design and structure, these swipes are identical to those encountered in other
French regions. Their metal parts come from salvaging. Water is drawn either
from garden wells whose water originates from a nearby stream or from tanks
whose water comes from a spring or even a river. The manlèves, as
they are called, come with a number of small hydraulic devices used for
recouperating, channelling, storing and heating water for irrigation: grooves and
circular basins (or gourgues). The watering technique consists of
splashing water with an espoucho, i.e. an old saucepan tied to the end of
a long handle.
At a time when
water becomes scarce in Southern France, the manlèves of lower Ardèche
deserve our whole attention.
BARBIER Jean-Marie, Les puits à balancier de
Meurthe-et-Moselle, in Cartes postales et collection,
1990, No 132, pp. 16-21 (review by Guy Oliver in L'architecture vernaculaire,
t. 19, 1995, p. 96).
The author stresses the vital role
of water and the high level of expenses that is incurred by a small,
unaffluent commune in order to supply its inhabitants with water. He
evokes the principle of the ancient Egyptians' shaduf, a forerunner of the well
swipe that was widely used in Lorraine until the early 20th century.
This short article contains a
facsimile of an October 26th, 1750 estimate for the refurbishment of three
communal wells in Mouacourt as well as a 1782 estimate (taken from P. Simonin's
book, Le puits à balancier lorrain, 1984) about a well in Pont-Mousson.
The interest of the article lies in
its seven early 20th-century postcards showing balancing wells that supplied
water to homes in Lorraine: Parroy (3 pictures), Petit-Mont (2 pictures),
Mouacourt and Ogévilliers. These pictures bring out the many similarities of the
four devices.
Once more, old postcards, although
often neglected or simply ignored, constitute an irreplaceable source of
information.
To print, use landscape mode
© Christian Lassure - CERAV
January 18th, 2006 -
Augmented on February 1st, 2008
The above contribution will be referred to as:
Christian Lassure, The balancing well in France,
www.pierreseche.com/balancing_well.htm, January 18th, 2008
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