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Underground refuges in the West of France
In the North West and South West of France, most underground refuges include 3 or 5 rooms connected by corridors. These rooms could accommodate dozens of people. Vital facilities have been dug into the galleries and mainly into the rooms. There are vent pipes drilled in the ceiling or ceramic vent pipes installed in air shaft, big niches dug in the wall, small niches made to receive fat lamps, grain silos excavated in the soil or the wall of rooms, stone benches and water wells. All these equipments indicate that people could live for a few days inside the cavity. In underground refuges, the narrow and winding corridors often change direction. The narrowness and the bends make the progression difficult in the gallery. Together with the dissimulation of the entry, it provides a first line of protection for refugees. Various defense systems dug into the rock complement this first line. Grooves have been carved in the walls to install thick wooden doors which close the corridors or the entrances of the rooms. Narrow passages with diameter of 50 or 40 cm force the visitors to crawl to progress inside the refuge. Wells or silos especially excavated in the soil of the gallery are very dangerous booby traps. Doors, narrow passages and traps are passive defense systems. In addition to passive defense systems, in some underground refuges there is a very efficient active defense system. The wall of the access gallery is pierced with one or several loopholes. The loophole is associated with a passive defense system, most frequently with a door. Blocked by the obstacle, the assailant was obliged to remain in front of the opening of the loophole. It was very easy to shoot and hit the target. In the North West and South West of France, underground refuges were dug by small rural communities to protect themselves against attacks from looters. They date back to the medieval period (from the 11th to the 16th century). Many of them were dug because of the Hundred Years War (14th – 15th century) and the Wars of Religion (second half of the 16th century).
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