Moulin d'Andé

English translation

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History

Mill probably from the mid-18th century, which rests on two piers dated to the 15th century. The Moulin d'Andé, of the type known as a hanging-wheel mill, is built above a branch of the Seine on two ashlar piers of medieval period, bearing a timber-framed construction. Its wheel is placed under the mill floor, in a horizontal frame carried by vertical ties; wooden screwed jacks allow the ties to slide through the thickness of the floor to raise or lower the wheel according to the water level. To the south, the miller's house is attached, of identical structure. Mentioned in archives since the early 15th century and precisely described in a lease of 1691, its activity is documented until 1861. Today a cultural meeting centre, the Moulin d'Andé constitutes a unique example in France, and perhaps in Western Europe, of this type of very fragile production unit, surviving to us in an exceptional state of preservation. Besides the wheel, for which a complete restoration is under study, the mill has retained its millstone chamber with the entire mechanism, essentially in wood: screwed jacks, ties, shaft, large cogwheel, and the millstones on their platform.

Description

Type of hanging-wheel mill: wheel situated under the building floor and dipping into the river bed. Ashlar piers constructed on piles and raft foundation.