The first wash houses were erected from the late eighteenth century. But it was not really until the nineteenth century that the construction of laundries in Lamballe took off for both private laundries for those audiences. The law of February 1857 contributed greatly to the creation of laundries in the city. In fact the first half of the century was marked by series of epidemics that greatly touched the Costarmoricaine population. To counter the disease waves, a hygiene committee was formed to organize actions in public. This committee over the law on the creation of subsidized washing fall within the hygienist current that crossed Europe in the nineteenth century and has allowed the emergence of health conditions we experience.
The story of the washing of Lamballe remains relatively obscure; Indeed laundries being reserved for popular use and not being bridges, little information is received until today. However some court documents show the presence and wash houses built on Lamballe. Car wash houses located on the Gouessant were subjects of recurring complaints among owners, and have been the subject of numerous decrees modification or destruction following the opinions of Civil Engineers and shod. Many plans and administrative documents concerning the laundries are available in the departmental archives of the Côtes d'Armor Saint-Brieuc.
