Informations directionnelles

En haut de la côte, continuer sur la gauche sur la partie goudronnée. Arriver sur la route ; en face, se trouve la chapelle Saint-Joseph. Virer à gauche. Descendre, tourner à droite, passer devant le lavoir de Vienne

Mills and factories of Vienne
A mixture of products over time

 

 

From mill...

The town of Vienne is built on a hillside and there are big variations in level, offering two consecutive waterfalls that once operated two mills.

The old mill at the bottom of the village belonged to the Roger de Villers family in the early nineteenth century. In 1911, the last miller-owner, Theodore Jules Faivre, sold it to the Firmin-Didot family, owners of the nearby castle of Saint-Cyr-en-Arthies. This is when it was converted into a factory. The wheel was removed in 1937.

 

 

…to factory

The new mill just above it was built in 1800 by Nicolas Picard to produce flour. The miller increased the size of the wheel, changing the slope of the brook to do so. Many years later, in 1841, a massive landslide over a hundred metres destroyed a house below and interrupted the course of the stream!

The mill was converted into a cotton mill, before being used to manufacture corkscrews and then castor oil capsules whose production ceased with the Great War. Finally, a soap factory was installed in this very large building, but this was destroyed by fire and was never reinstated.