LES MOULINS DE SAINTE-PAZANNE

In December 2001, the Malessard mill, on the road to Saint-Hilaire-de-Chaléons, was topped with a new roof, a new cap, an important step in a restoration project undertaken by Mrs Thomine de Caffarelli, its owner. Will this mill, which was the last one to operate in Sainte-Pazanne, ever get its wings back? In 1809, 75150 mills were listed in France. A century later, there were still more than 25,000 of them, including 600 in the Loire-Inférieure region and 150 in the Pays de Retz. In his study "les lieux dits du pays de Retz", Eloi Guitteny counted 111 mills in 1967, most of them in bad condition. And in Sainte-Pazanne? At the end of the 18th century, the parish territory included ten mills: the big mill on the road to Nantes the mill of Ardennes on the road to Petit-Beusse, which has disappeared today the "turquois" mill of the Marche, disappeared, which was located near N° 27 of the rue de l'Auditoire the Baudrin mill, which can still be seen today in rue de l'Ilette the new mill, disappeared, which was at the crossroads of the streets of Bel Air and Nouies the mill of the Coche of which only the base still appears the mill of Retail whose structure still exists the mill of Malessard the mill of Grand Cormier of which only the trace is still visible among the brambles the mill of the Cossonnerie which, at the bottom of the village, is in the same state as that of the Grand Cormier. Two of these mills, Ardennes and the new mill, were seigneurial mills. They belonged for that of Ardennes to the lordship of the same name, and for the new mill to the lordship of Sainte-Pazanne which was the most important of the parish. As such, the vassals of these two lordships were obliged to grind their grain at the lord's mill and to bake their bread in the same lord's communal oven. The other mills belonged either to private individuals, in totality or in joint ownership, or to millers or fariners. These were generally part of the wealthy class of the population of Sainte-Pazanne. In a deliberation of the town council establishing the classification of the grounds and houses, one knows the list of the owners of the wind mills in Sainte-Pazanne in 1837: the mill of the March (Berthuzeau); the Large Cormier (Gloria); Retail (Fruneau); Coche (Joseph Moreau); Baudrin (François Ecomard); the New mill (Julien Blois); the mill of Ardennes (M. de la Brosse); the Malessard (M. de Charrette); and the mill of Cossonnerie (Pierre Sorin). In 1896, were indicated as millers, Charles Blois (the Grand Cormier); Pierre Marot (the Malessard) and Pierre Fruneau (the Retail). Lucien and Pierre Marot report that: "the Malessard mill worked with wind until the 1950s. The customers were from Sainte-Pazanne, and partly from Saint-Hilaire-de-Chaléons, Chéméré and Rouans. The wheat was fetched and the flour was returned. We were paid in kind or in cash Source: extract from an article in bulletin n° 05 of the Historical Society