Prochain point : lat="49.09377" lon="2.1982"
"Leroy" mill
The last Valmondois mill, and even one of the last mills in Vexin
From the twelfth century King’s Mill...
This mill is mentioned in a twelfth century charter by Gauthier Valmondois at the Abbey of Saint-Martin de Pontoise; it was referred to at the time as the "moulin du roy" (Molendino regis), as it belonged to the king. The name was distorted over the centuries to become the " moulin le roy " and eventually "Leroy".
In the nineteenth century, a large building was added on to the old mill. At that time, it had a Poncelet wheel 4.80 m in diameter, with curved blades to improve performance. It produced white flour for the bakery.
... To twentieth century turbines
The Brochet family, originally from the west, moved to Leroy mill around 1922. The Poncelet wheel was quickly replaced by a turbine, which was deemed more efficient, and the traditional grinding wheels were replaced by a system of cylinders rotating at different speeds, between which the wheat flour was gradually reduced to flour after several rotations.
The mill worked in this way for another half century, until 1978. This makes it by far the last mill in activity in Valmondois and even one of the last in Vexin to produce flour in the traditional way... The turbine is still used to produce electricity. It is now the residence of a master glassmaker.
