Yesterday I mentioned it to Hilary and she said they also came across a similar structure when walking around their village. They decided it was some kind of bunker from WW II.
They have a group taking French lessons with a local woman and Hilary asked her what it was.
Peter was right all along: It's a water pump. We live near mountains and there are springs all over the place. These pumps take water from the springs and distribute it to the villages.
I suppose it's easy to assume the thing is a bunker, considering that this area had a very strong resistance movement in the last world war...
