Lavoir

Towards the end of the 18th century french towns and viilages would have a lavoir. They were for communal (although men were not allowed) clothes washing. They were of varying designs, this is a fairly simple one, but they were all fed by running water so that the water in them did not get too dirty.
If you look at the extra you can see that there were several wooden washboards with some having a kneeling platform behind them.
They fell into disuse in the first half of the 20th century.