“Is this the last windmill in Corrèze?” The incredible reconstruction of this heritage which had lost its wings

For the association which takes care of it, and for the small town of Valiergues, 153 inhabitants, of which it is the pride, it was a catastrophe when it lost its wings in April 2023. But thanks to the help of two Dordogne and Bordeaux, the mill located near Ussel, in Haute-Corrèze, has started working again.

On a mountain that we can barely distinguish today, peaceful facing the distant, but so close, Puy Mary and Puy de Sancy, visible from neighboring Auvergne in good weather, the Valiergues mill seems to defy its era. Like ancestral, immutable and eternal… However, it is almost a forger. And above all, it’s a real miracle!

He is believed to be old, although he is, quote, only 150 years old. We think he has always been a nurturer on this earth, when in reality he has only provided a little flour for barely two generations… But it doesn't matter that he didn't have a Daudet, or a Vialatte, to write your letters or chronicles, the Valiergues mill nonetheless remains a true marvel!

In the second half of the 19th century, Valiergues had nearly three mills on its territory. Water mills, the most important of which is located on the Artaude, a stream located below the current mill, which has now completely disappeared.

But the drought is already raging, and the meager rus are struggling to turn the millstones… So, around 1870, on a hill dotted with fields, a windmill was built.

No wheat here. Rye and buckwheat reign supreme. The mill will turn and provide its flour, until the global noise, which seems so far from this earth, suddenly stops it.

In 1914, the Great War broke out. And the general mobilization deprived the mill of its millers.

Little by little, there was no one left to operate it.

Little by little, no one left to take care of the surrounding fields. Everyone then sinks into abandonment…

Potential… for future sanitary facilities !

The mill no longer has wings, no roof. Its solid stones are crumbling. The fields surrounding it became a forest. Everything is nothing more than ruins and vestiges of a forgotten past…

But in the 1970s, almost a century after the mill was built, the trend for farm camping took shape. The owners of the land saw this as an opportunity, and decided to carry out some work. Curiously, the mill finds its place there. Not for its tourist or rental appeal, but because we see potential… for future sanitary facilities !
The camping it is worse Never the day, but the moulin will have found stones and a roof.

“It’s the last windmill in Corrèze at your place ?”

Time is starting to take its toll on the old mill again. But in THE years 2000, we finally find its own interest.
The land is rented with a long lease by the municipality, an association is created, and thanks to a company from Dordogne, although more specialized in the repair of the roofs of churches and castles, a new ridge, a brand new mechanism, and wings, restore the mill to its former glory.
Not enough to attract thousands of tourists, but still a few and, even more, a certain notoriety to the village. “Ah, this is the last windmill in Corrèze ?!” “Ah, you are from Valiergues, where there is the mill ?!”

Not to mention the welcome of schoolchildren from Corrèze and even Limousin, to whom the members of the association are delighted to tell the history and places, and of the flour mill, even if it means cheating a little on the flour supposedly produced…

In Valiergues, no pun intended, the mill is a busy business. But one day in the spring of 2023, while there were people on site, and even in the mill tower, the unthinkable happened: worm-eaten, the wings collapsed. Miraculously, there were no injuries, but for the town and for the association of friends of the mill, for whom he is a real baby and a total passion, it is a disaster.

We have become, as they say, orphans!

Michel Guillaumie

Member of the association of friends of the Valiergues mill

The town has only 150 inhabitants, but luckily its finances are healthy. And then its current mayor, with certain interpersonal skills, is a former departmental councilor and former president of the community of communes of the Pays d'Ussel.
There is a municipal project in the works, the financing of which has already been planned and approved, without the need for a loan. Neither one nor two, the project was relegated, and the renovation of the mill decided.

We recall the Périgord company (the Férignac workshops), we decide on an ironwork frame, made in Bordeaux, to perpetuate the structure, we even find parts in Italy, and for a cost of 70 000€, we bring the mill back to life ! The latter was also awarded an award in 2003 in the “Heritage Ribbons” competition, which rewards actions carried out to rehabilitate places of memory which contribute to the transmission of know-how in heritage professions.

The roof structure was placed on a hydraulic rail, to orient it and avoid, in the event of high winds, a possible runaway of the blades. The wings, and their axis, were installed in the summer of 2024, an electric motor now allows them to rotate.

Wing sails are available again, but you will only see them during specific inaugurations and celebrations. The rest of the time, they are kept in a safe place, so as not to be damaged by the increasingly frequent strong winds.

The site will be visited each year for the Sainte-Madeleine festival, a village festival which is held every penultimate Saturday in July, but also during the mill festival in June, as well as for Heritage Days. scheduled this year for September 20 and 21, 2025.

(First published July 24)