Granges-sous-Grignon Tileworks Museum

The tile factory was founded in 1880 by the Sébillotte family to make terracotta building materials such as tiles, bricks and delicate architectural components. It employed up to 40 workers. Later it made more basic objects such as drainage pipes. It closed in 1972. The last owner, François Laurent, worked with an association of enthusiasts to save the complex as a monument to industrial heritage. It opened for visitors in 2004. The factory is in an attractive position on a wharf beside the Canal de Bourgogne. In its working years, a 300-ton barge would bring charcoal to fuel the kilns and take away the products, mainly to Paris. A large workshop built of timber with a tile roof has long benches beneath windows for working on the fine terracotta objects, many examples of which are displayed. Several presses for forming clay products are preserved. Wagons are in situ on a railway that served a continuous kiln 40m long, and there is a tall chimney for drawing the air.