Font-Grand

Situated at the bottom of rue Gambetta, at the corner of rue Esclopière, Font-Grand is the most important fountain in Clairac, which has a number of springs and fountains flowing towards the Lot. It benefits from an exceptional architecture that has always inspired artists. The spring itself and its retention basin closed by a gate are covered by a Gothic vault, protected by a classical façade dated 1638 (près de deux décennies après le siège de 1621, on peut supposer qu’elle eut alors besoin d’être reconstruite), restored in 1900 as indicated by the dedication on the architrave: 1638 – ET ANNI ET UNDÆ – 1909 (the years and the waves).

On each side of the opening giving access to the room, two pilasters are surmounted by Ionic capitals. At the time, water flowed through two side gullies feeding the central basin, slightly below rue Gambetta. This basin flowed down the slope of the street. On the left side, two staircases facing each other: one leads to the house, the other to the high spring. At the end of the 20^th century, the lateral ducts were replaced by a central outlet, and the basin into a pseudo-washing basin made of cement. Font-Grand was added to the Supplementary Inventory of Historic Monuments in April 1996.

The life of Charles Laffitte, who died in the 1930s, is not well known; the family of Jean Pons having been very close to this artist at the end of his life, only the latter can still speak about it. Probably from Bordeaux, who would have taught mathematics, Charles Laffitte must have come to Clairac at the beginning of the 20^th century. Single, he lived on the road to Villeneuve. We know of him various views of Clairac: the bridge, the island of Pont-Peyrin, the hold and its washerwomen…

Charles Laffitte's gouache is probably prior to the restoration of 1909 if one observes the state of the façade and compares it to the one appearing on:

The fountain was framed by two houses that still exist; before the Revolution, the one on the left was owned by one of the branches of the Balguerie family which was nicknamed – to differentiate themselves from their cousins – “Balguerie de Lascannelles” (cannelle is the tap that can be attached to a barrel to allow the water to flow from it, but also from a fountain or basin.) ; in 1702, a deed drawn up at the notary's office Fréron indicates that “la maison des Cannelles belongs to sieur Pierre Balguerie du Metge”, for a value of 6 000 livres. During the inter-war years, Émilienne Laborie (born Combebiac) had her milliner's shop and “Teinturerie Nouvelle”.