Atelier Cierge

As part of the European Heritage Days organized in Wimereux by the Association of Friends of the Church.

Heritage and teaching: learning for life!

Come alone, with family, or with friends, (basically, come as you are), learn, and entertain yourself, in an atmosphere of recreational classes, on the theme of the material and intangible heritage of the (local) church, and of the (universal) church. Both are vectors of education, by the transmission of the knowledge that they have extended within the city and beyond, and the know-how that they have generated and maintained from the Middle Ages to the present day.
Among the workshops proposed to illustrate the know-how transmitted since generations around the life of the church, at the workshop "candles" you will discover the different stages of the manufacture of candles, thanks to the experience of the Ciergerie Leroy of Boulogne-sur-mer.

A bit of history ...

Beeswax had many uses. Before the invention of electricity, it was used to make candles to light up at night. There were also candles made of beef tallow.
Before the candle, for centuries, the cane was used to make candles. Slit carefully to avoid damaging the marrow, it was soaked in vegetable or animal fat that was then allowed to harden. We used to burn it in cane burners.
The candle, consisting only of a wick surrounded by beef or sheep tallow, is more practical without being excessively expensive (but it is taxed and the oil remains less economical). Less liquid to spill, less flame to adjust, less tank to fill. But the tallow runs and hurts the fingers, the flame remains yellow and smoky, it is always necessary to maintain the wick which ends up coalescing, unlike candles with beeswax which released much less black smoke.
The nobility and the clergy lit themselves with candles made of beeswax and left the French people with the light of tallow. The wax candle retains the benefits of the candle and eliminates its defects. But its price (under Louis XIV the cost of a candle was equivalent to the daily wage of a skilled worker or about 2,5 Pounds) limits the diffusion to the highest spheres of society and especially to the Royalty.
The candle itself was developed in the middle of the 19th century and is distinguished from the candle by its raw material and by the use of wicks of woven cotton. Braiding allows the wick to bend and consume itself: no need to blow it. The wretched candle then begins to disappear.
The appearance of solid paraffin (petroleum distillate) and stearin (animal and vegetable fat extract) now allows the production of candles of better quality.

La ciergerie Leroy

Installed in Boulogne sur mer since 1870, the candle maker LEROY, with a craftsmanship handed down from generation to generation, manufactures since its origin, quality candles.
Family business, run by Alain BONTEMPS and his daughter Olivia, she received in 2015 the label "Living Heritage Company".