Documented below is the prefabricated communal oven at Doucy in the Massif des Bourge, Savoie. It is suggested that the article Two Exterior Community Ovens: Savoie be read prior to this one.
There are so many basic similarities between this oven and the ones in Broissieux and Bellecombe, that it can be presumed that it is of the same date and general origin. Doucy is about 13 km South East of Bellcombe.
There is no evidence that the oven has been used in recent times.
The bake house is now the villages storage shed.
Though not fulfilling its full original function, the oven is still a sublime focal point of communal life. The fire hoses and recycling bins are kept in the bake house, and its doors used as a community notice board.
The bake house is now the villages storage shed.
Though not fulfilling its full original function, the oven is still a sublime focal point of communal life. The fire hoses and recycling bins are kept in the bake house, and its doors used as a community notice board.
The interior of the bake house. The loading opening is closed by a simple iron shield, the ash dump having two hinged iron doors.
The I beam supports the avaloire.
The I beam supports the avaloire.
The bake chamber has two out let flues at the back. These run back over the vault and into the Avaloire.
The flue outlet to the right.
The prefabricated bake chamber was probably installed in the early 1940s replacing an original clay brick bake chamber.
The prefabricated bake chamber was probably installed in the early 1940s replacing an original clay brick bake chamber.
The exit openings of the over vault flues feed directly into the avaloire.
Each flue has a shut off damper just above the outlet openings in the vault. The dampers are operated by two iron rods, running through the flues. This system is presumably an attempt at maximising and equalising heat transfer into the mass of the bake chamber.
The two flues, and the loading opening, allow the oven to draw in three different directions, either alternatively , or simultaneously.
Each flue has a shut off damper just above the outlet openings in the vault. The dampers are operated by two iron rods, running through the flues. This system is presumably an attempt at maximising and equalising heat transfer into the mass of the bake chamber.
The two flues, and the loading opening, allow the oven to draw in three different directions, either alternatively , or simultaneously.
Marcus Flynn
2009
