Saint-Martial spring and washhouses

The Saint Martial spring already existed in the 3rd century. In the 20th century, it still supplied a few washing basins, earning Nohanent the nickname “cité des lavandières” (city of the lavender ladies).

Sacred in Gallic times, this spring was dedicated to Saint Martial in the 3rd century.

In the second half of the 19th century, the Royat thermal spa, located 6 km away, was booming. The bourgeoisie and the European aristocracy flocked there to “take the waters” at the Eugénie spring, tested by the Empress in 1862. Bourgeois residents of Clermont-Ferrand and spa visitors produced such large quantities of dirty linens that the residents of Nohanent decided to channel the clean water from the Saint Martial spring to supply the many washing basins and provide a laundry service. Until the 1920s, there were six washing basins on the square, dubbed “streams” by the Nohanent residents. Nohanent was then nicknamed “cité des lavandières” (city of the Lavender ladies), the name given to the washer women who used lavender essence to perfume the laundry. This business prospered until the arrival of the washing machine in the 1960s.

At 8 rue de la Ville is a former laundry featuring a boiler, washing tubs and small laundry items including wheelbarrow, crate, umbrella, laundry beater, scrubbing brush and soap. Note that at the end of the house, the opening allowed ventilation of the attic where the laundry was put to dry in bad weather.

The Saint-Martial spring flowed under the Maison de la Source, which has been the local association support centre for Nohanent since 1991. Several buildings have successively occupied this site over the centuries, including Saint-Anne chapel, built in the 10th century and destroyed in 1790, and the former Town hall-School built on its remains in 1838.