Puits Communes (Public Wells)

One day while walking down our street, we saw this in a wall near our cottage:

This well started our search. It’s about a hundred yards from our cottage here in Bois-le-Roi.

It’s an old unused well; we could see the pulley and bucket on a chain.There is a locked grill on the front so it cannot be used (and so kids and animals don’t fall down it!). We thought that was kind of interesting.

Then we found a historical marker sign on another street with a narrative about les puits communes (common wells) that were in this area when it was the commercial and residential center of Bois-le-Roi. There were many of these common wells, which the residents and businesses in the area used.

The sign said that thirteen of the wells, built around 1850, still exist. Ah-hah! The search was on. A challenge is that the sign said the wells were built in walls along the street (almost all houses here have walls around the property) but some wells were built in courtyards, which generally are now completely enclosed.

So on our almost-daily walks, we kept an eye out for puits. More than once I walked right by one and Laurie would have to call me back to show me. In the end, we found twelve for sure and one maybe, but the maybe turned out to be a no. Several of them are in courtyards which required some “over the wall peeping.” One we can see only the roof and about six inches of the opening. Eight of them are on walls, five are in courtyards (which took some searching to find).

For your viewing pleasure, here are the puits we’ve found, in no particular order:

Rue de France, near the railroad.	Rue Guido-Sigriste, in the wall. This one is practically across the street from our cottage and we’d never seen it.
Rue Guido Sigriste, in a house courtyard.	Rue Denecourt.
Rue de la Republique, in a courtyard.	An unusual well; it has a rounded front with the opening on the side. No other well looks like this.
Rue de Republique, top of a hidden puit. We’ve never gotten a good look at this one, as it’s behind two gates, but it’s definitely a well, and I found an 1848 map that shows a well in this location.	Rue Louis Letang, near place Republique.
Rue Carnot, behind the boucherie.	Rue de France, in a courtyard.
The last found, on the back wall of a courtyard.	Rue de France, in a courtyard – not entirely sure this is one of the puits communes.

I suspect a few of you faithful readers are saying, “They’ve lost it for sure.” Probably, but I will say that it was fun to search these wells up, and have a little connection with the local history.