Ferrier of Tannerre-en-Puisaye

The ancient ferrier of Tannerre-en-Puisaye, located in the village of Tannerre-en-Puisaye in Burgundy, France, is a historic site used for mining and working of iron. The works date from the Gallic and Gallo-Roman times. It is one of two largest ferriers in France and one of the largest in Europe. Industrial exploitation of the site ceased when it was classed as French Heritage monument in 1982. The root of the word "ferrier" is "fer", which means iron. This word is quite unique to French : no other language has a word that specifically means "pile of iron slag" or "iron tailings heap": these terms, "slag" and "tailings", can apply to the extraction waste by-product of any metal and not just of iron. The ferrier of Tannerre is in the northern part of Burgundy, in the Yonne department, in the commune of Tannerre-en-Puisaye, in and around the bois de la Garenne (Wood of La Garenne) that stands just north of the village. Two thirds of its total surface of are in a wood of approximately surface. of the southern part of the wood is owned by the town council, the rest of it being privately owned. The ferrier also spreads over inhabited areas and agricultural land. The wood was likely much larger originally, as extracting iron from its ore required great quantities of charcoal. Metal extraction also requires a lot of water to wash the ore, a need fulfilled with the Branlin river flowing at the foot of the hill. The ore also needed to be crushed, and that was done in appropriate mills. Lastly, extracting iron required air to activate the bloomeries and the site is at the top of a hill, well exposed to winds. This is not the only ferrier in Tannerre-en-Puisaye, a village that holds a large part of the ferriers listed in Puisaye in 2008. Other large ferriers in Puisaye are in Aillant-sur-Tholon, Saint-Amand-en-Puisaye, Saint-Fargeau, Fontaines, Dracy, Mézilles. Those remains of ancient and recent exploitation have remodelled the land to heaps and holes: many holes from mineral extraction and from the removal of slag, many mounds of all sizes from miscellaneous small heaps to high mounds.