QR Veyre-Monton – Bourg 8
Rue de la Tabarelle
For centuries, Monton’s drinking water resources were inadequate. The village had only one regularly supplied fountain. In 1808, the mayor wrote to the prefect: « In times of drought and heat, we usually see sixty to eighty people queuing at the fountain for their water and often waiting for five or six hours ».
The mayor then signed an agreement with Tabaret, a « water engineer » from Clermont-Ferrand, for the construction of a drainage tunnel to supply a new fountain, an underground tunnel that is still there to this day. Y-shaped, 190 metres long with a ceiling height of 2m, but largely bricked up, it collected the water as it was stopped by the layer of impermeable marl. The structure also features reservoirs.
The fountain, which soon came to be known as « La Tabarelle », was commissioned in 1811 and unblocked several times during the 19th century. In 1885, it produced just 5.26 litres of water per minute. Destroyed in 1961 when the Rue Jean de Beaufort was widened and running water introduced to Monton, it was replaced by a modest tap a little farther down the road. Nothing visible remains of it apart from the upper section of the vault where the tank was located.
Image captions
- A man and woman haul up their buckets of water from the fountain, the top of the vault visible on the left.