Sentiers du Patrimoine ®
Montalet-le-Bois
Poursuivre jusqu’à la mairie.
Prochain point : Lat. 49.039963, Long. 1.830615
The hamlet of Damply lies on the boundary between the communes of Montalet-le-Bois and Jambville, watered by the Bernon. At the end of the 19th century, a limestone quarry was exploited here. The Moulin des Prés was also established at least as early as the late 18th century, as it appears on the plan d’intendance. It is however certainly older. According to a record of seigneurial rights dating from 1787, the Damply mill was a ‘moulin banal,’ owned by the lord of Lainville. Vassals and tenants of the seigneur were forced to grind their grain there. This feudal right of banalité, a privilege of the seigneurs under the Ancien Régime, was abolished during the French Revolution.
In the second half of the 19th century, the Damply mill belonged to the Laurent family. Denis François Laurent, a miller, owned the mill in the village centre of Montalet, now housing the present-day town hall. His eldest son, Alphonse Laurent, born in 1847, is recorded as the miller at Damply in the 1876 census, assisted by his wife Louise Célestine and by a mill guard named Louis Blanquet. The younger son, Louis Laurent, later took over the village mill. Milling activity at Montalet seems to have ceased around 1900. Today, the Damply mill has been converted into a private residence.
