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In
May we spent a very pleasant week in a gîte in
France, revisiting the Dordogne area which we had
last explored some 40 years ago. We knew there
would be mills as this area of France is a huge
limestone plateau (causse) riddled with caves and
springs and powerful rivers, the Dordogne to the
north, and the Lot and Célé to the south. It is
best known for the fortified town of Rocamadour and
the world-famous cave paintings at places like Pech-Merle
and Lascaux. The roads following the cliff-like
side of the river valleys lead you past many humbler
sites.
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Our
first encounter with a mill was in the nearby
village of Creysse in the Dordogne valley. A
lot of time and effort had been spent renovating the
village mill. It is permanently open and contains
lovingly restored mill furniture, and it is run
occasionally, but somehow fails to retain its
atmosphere and authenticity. |
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The
following day we visited the fortified flour mill at
Cougnaguet, on the river Ouysse near
Rocamadour – and the only one mentioned in our very
old Michelin guide book. It was built in the early
14th century by Cistercian monks and needed to be
fortified against starving locals. It is now
privately owned and retains one working set of
stones. It is open to the public and there are
plenty of interesting features. |
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Just inside the door this montage (right) allowed
you to examine the workings of a typical horizontal
wooden tirl and helpfully labelled a lot of the
parts. We were almost flummoxed by the 3 augets
until we realised that they were shoes for
transferring grain from a hopper to the eye of a
pair of millstones.
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The
complete assemblage next to the door looked antique,
but it was so small that we thought it might be a
demonstration model.
We
then entered the mill itself which had 4 sluices,
each channelling water into a stone chamber
containing a tirl, and with direct drive to a single
pair of millstones.
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Top left:
The 4 sluices
Top right:
Stone chamber with tirl
Bottom left:
Direct drive to stones
Bottom right:
The row of millstones and sluices |
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We
also examined a flour dresser (blutoir) full of
graded flour (note the 3 grades) and a small
unrestored example revealing the sliding weights on
radial arms which are designed to knock the flour
through the mesh, which are not usually visible.
There was also line-shafting with lantern pinions
driving the dresser. |
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We
were shown round with a group and the visit ended
with the obligatory glass of something small and
potent. An enjoyable visit right down to the
energetically croaking frogs by the river bank. The
river is interesting, because downstream from the
mill it disappears underground for 11km, re-emerging
at Lacave on the banks of the Dordogne.
On
other days we saw several more watermills.
The
one at Fontaine de la Pescalerie in the Célé
valley (left), which took advantage of water pouring
out a spring at the base of the cliffs, was
mentioned as a ‘source’ on the map, but the obvious
mill was not identified at all. There were no clues
to the one at Laroque-des-Arcs (right) in the
Lot valley; we were looking for the remains of the
Roman aqueduct taking water to the thermal baths in
Cahors, which gave the village its name, but we
didn’t find it. We read later that it was
demolished in 1370!
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This mill in the Vers valley is now obviously a
house. |
A
large distant mill on the Lot at Cahors
looked as if it might have been generating
electricity. |
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In
Domme, a bastide town high above the Dordogne
valley, were the static remains of a tower mill,
Moulin du Roy, which I’m sure is much photographed.
It is occasionally open to the public.
Finally, we found another similar tower mill, this
time at Carlucet, where we were thwarted by
the glaring red sign on the road edge – zoom lens to
the rescue. We speculated as to why there was a
large turnstile in the field behind the notice; the
mill was very widely sign-posted so presumably it
was once open to the public, and that was the way
in. |
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