What is this?

[Mattyj198]

I just recently bought a house in France, It has a stone sticking out of the front of the house and I have no idea what it was or what it was for. Most of the houses in the town also have them

Here is a photo

Do you know what it is?

[crossy67]

Is there or was there once a sink on the other side of the wall and does it have a groove down the middle of it?  I have seen them on a few old houses where they have been used as the drain for the old stone sinks, the groove forms a small hole in the wall that is blocked until you want to drain the sink.  They have the stone sticking out from the wall to stop the water making the wall wet and causing damp.

[Clair]

We have a couple of these in the house at floor level.