The ironworks at Savignac-Lédrier in the valley of Auvézère in the Périgord dates from the 1520s and lies beneath a Renaissance castle built by its first owners. It continued in production, still using charcoal as its fuel and water-power for its bellows, hammers and mills until 1930, when the blast furnace was blown out, and part of the works continued to make wire that was used to produce keys for sardine cans until 1975.
The site has been a museum since 1979, and presents a remarkably complete picture of an ironworks of the early modern period, with its blast furnace, with a crane at its forehearth that was used in making castings, a charcoal barn of 1824, now exhibition space, rolling mills and hammers, and workers’ housing, now used as a reception area. Amongst other products of the works were cannon used by the French navy in the nineteenth century. Savignac-Lédrier adjoins Payzac, site of an historic paper mill.