mulino
sulla Loira
Because we also want to analyse the European Canals and Mills, we start our
journey abroad from France, which we reach by train, carrying our bikes along
with us.
From the IV century A.D., in France, a lot of mills were built and began to be used not only for the millstone for wheat, but also as primary engines for other productive activities, for example the cutting and the smoothing of the marble, the working of pots and glass. In this period, next to Arles, for example, a chain of hydraulic mills produced 2.8 tonnes of flour every day.
In the next centuries many floating mills were built and some of them have survived until the past few years.
The uses of the watermill are various: operation of hammers, typing of flax, production of paper with torns.
In the XIII and XIV centuries many mills were built in abbeys; in fact the interest of the monks in the technological progress had always beeen connected to the necessity to save time and human energy in order to guarantee the right balance between prayer and work. In fact watermills, linked to millstone of the cereals, allow a bigger production in a shorter time than watermills that are worked byhuman beings and animals.
When they chose the place where to build their abbey, Cistercians looked for places where there was water in order to guarantee the regular development of their activities. For this reason Cistercians became experts in hidraulics engineering; they fulfilled a lot of reclamation-works of marshlands with the building of dams and channels.
mulino
sulla Loira
mills on the Loire
Among 200 watermills that are in Tourain, fifty are along the Indre Tourangelle river. The first watermill was built in the VI century for Saint-Ours. Other mills were built between the X and the XI centuries, but now they no longer exsist.
Mills are the principal source of energy in the valley:
- for the wheat;
- for the gypsum;
- for the sawdust of the wood;
- for the caolin;
- for the paper;
- for the oil;
- for the lime
- for the production of the electricity.
If mills are the most important symbols of Flanders, they are the same even for Villeneuve d’Ascq. The first mill was built in 1976, it was a mill for oil, in 1979 was built a mill for flour and, afterwards a watermill in 1987. Thanks to ARAM (Association Règionale des Amis des Moulins), Villeneuve d’Ascq has become an important centre for mills.
In 1976 the firt mill was built in Villeneuve d’Ascq but its origin goes further back in time. In the 1743, in Audruicq the carpenter Ingelbertus Martinus of Smyttére built the “tordoil” (millstone) for oil which presently is at Villeneuve d’Ascq. This mill for oil would be trasformed into a mill for flour to be later abandoned at the end of XIX century. At the beginnig of the XX century Alphonse Gourdin, a miller looking for an instrument of work, destroyed the mill and later carried the pieces as far as Offerkerque. Later Alphonse’s son, Gerard continued this work, until 1950. Then they abandoned it but in March 1974 the Gourdins and tha ARAM signed an act to safeguarde it.
THE REBIRTH
The cage of this mill was carried to Villeneuve d’Ascq and the works went on from 1977 to 1983. In 1982 the mill was completely installed. The inauguration of the mill was on 26th June 1983 but only in the 1986 it produced the first oil and so there was aother inauguration.
mulino a farina
THE FLOUR-MILL (LE MOULINE A FARINE)
Beside repairing the mill for oil of Villenueve d’Ascq, a second mill was saved in Ruminghem, on the way to Calais, of which only the structure remained. On 2nd October 1979 this cage was taken to Villeneuve d’Ascq where the community decided to maintain the mill and to contribute financially to his rebuilding. The works started in 1984 and finished in 1988 and the mill was adapted to prepare fluor and wheat.
In 1776 the carpenter Loan built the mill and it produced wheat until 1948, firstly exploiting the power of the wind, later, in 1987, through an engine. Later, in 1957, the millstone was removed.
mulino
costrito da Loan
mill built by Loan
THE WATERMILL
In 1987, ARAM built the third mill: it’s a water mill of 1902 from Verse-sur-Selle near Amiens. It is an hammer coming from the Monnayer, specialized in making instruments for agriculture and gardening. Now this mill doesn’t work; however, it is another mill of the collection of the Centre of Mills
In Burgundy, there are nearly 1200Km (746 miles) of rivers and canals almost deserted by commercial traffic but avaiable for pleasure boating.
This remarkable richness of navigable waterways is due toby the geographical positionof Burgundy. It is, in fact, in the heart of this region that one can find the watershed between the valleys of the three principal French rivers, the Seine, the Loire and the Rhone. During the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries vast network of canals was built throughout Burgundy in order to link these three rivers Saone, Yonne and Seille, which represent boating opportunities of great tourist interest.
The central part of the canal, 60 km long, between Cercy-la-Tour and Sardy, is inaccessible to 38 metre large. The canal is therefore entirely reserved for pleasure boating, and many boat owners have established here to hire boats.
From Auxerre to Clamecy and Corbigny, the canal faithfully follows the rugged Yonne valley and then through of the magnificient series of locks at Sardy and of tunnels at La Collancelle, it reaches the lakes of Vaux and Baye, the highest part of its course. Then the canal calmly descends towards the Loire valley crossing the plains of the Bazois by Chatillon and Cercy-la-Tour
From the beginning to the end the Nivernais canal crosses regions and countryside of an exceptional beauty.
Among all the Burgundy canals, the “Canal du Centre” retains the most flourishing commercial barge activity, especially on the Saone part between Montceau-les-Mines and Chalon-sur-Saone,and here the locks are automatic.
Between Chagny and Santenay, the canal takes you through the vineyards of Burgundy and the charming region of Le Creusot. From there you will go through the rich plains of the Charollais before arriving at Digoin. You will also move through Paray-le-Monial, a centre of Romanesque burgundian art and a well known place for pilgrimage.
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The Briare canal is the ancestor and the prototype of all French canals. It was the work of Sully, the famous minister of Henry IV, who took great interest in the completion of the canal, the construction started in 1604 and was completed in 1642. The Loing canal was built a century later. These two canals still used by barges transporting cereals, cross Gatinais. Two elements, worth a special mention, are the canal bridge and the seven locks at Rogny, dating back to the 17th century, now not usedand classified as a historical monument.
In Novemeber 2000 UNESCO declared part of the Loire property of humanity. It’s the stretch, 260 kms long, between Sully-sur-Loire ( before Orleans) and Challones-sur-Loire, near Angers. UNESCO definited it “cultural landscape”, that is to saya mixture of natural coutnry and men’s interventions.
