the essential
The Jalousie mill in Belpech is a heritage treasure. The Heritage Foundation has just awarded the Moulin des bois ovales association a grant of 160,000 euros.
On the banks of the Vixiège, the building does not look like much, but for Pierre Armengaud, its owner, the Jalousie mill, like a rough diamond, just needs to be cut. The master cabinetmaker, who made a name for himself by creating wooden rugby balls, today devotes all his energy and all his time to the Jalousie mill.
DDM – Bruno Huet
In 1795, the miller Raymond Fenasse, who intended to take advantage of the abolition of privileges, had a water mill built. In 1844, during a change of ownership, a reach was built upstream of the mill, along the Vixiège. “This force canal was not to the taste of the inhabitants who feared that its construction would lead to flooding. Seizure, justice will win the miller's case,” explains Pierre Armengaud, inexhaustible on the subject. “The miller's business was doing so well that he ended up buying houses in the village,” adds the artisan. “And some were envious of this success.” The mill and its two large stone millstones become that of jealousy.
DDM – Bruno Huet
In 1871, Baptiste Guillaume, the great-great-grandfather of Pierre Armengaud, bought the mill. This is still dedicated to the production of flour. It was not until the beginning of the 20th century that the mill diversified. Auguste Armengaud, the great-grandfather, is a genius jack-of-all-trades. Mobilized in 1914, he was wounded twice on the Verdun front but escaped the terrible carnage. At the end of the Great War, the mill was coupled with a sawmill. In 1921, Auguste, who could have made a career in the emerging aeronautical industry with Latécoère, installed a turbine on the mill. “He was a sawyer,” explains Pierre Armengaud, “and he provided the first props for the base of the Salsigne mine.”
Under the Occupation, the mill supplied the maquis
The pit saw still works like a metronome. When the water rushes down the reach onto one of the two finned turbines, a set of crowns and belts is set in motion. “We really realize at that moment the power of water,” explains Pierre Armengaud with relish, who still remains admiring of the mechanical genius of his ancestor. “The pit saw is partly driven by the gearbox of a car, a De Dion Bouton”.
An investment of €800,000
“I worked for more than two years putting together the file for the Bern Mission,” explains Pierre Armangaud. Efforts that were not in vain. The Heritage Foundation chose the Moulin de la Jalousie in Aude, while four other files could also have been eligible. But the hardest part is yet to come. The envelope of €160,000, “which must be used within two years”, will make it possible to rebuild two frames and their roofs. The lean-to in question houses the sawmill machines (a saw, a planer, a sharpener) as well as most of the mechanisms allowing their operation. Secondly, it will be necessary to be able to raise additional funds to restore the 1910 turbine which ensured the rotation of the two flour millstones. Other investments will be necessary to welcome the public safely, create a shop and possibly a roof terrace as well as a pedestrian path to discover the water wheels. Pierre Armengaud is therefore preparing to knock on all doors. The project is in fact estimated at €800,000 as it stands. The price of a heritage as singular as it is original.
When Auguste Armengaud died in 1942, “a victim of illness after returning from a funeral”, Louis took up the torch and developed the business by building doors and windows. Under the Occupation, the mill continued to grind grain and supplied the department's maquis. “My grandfather had developed a stratagem. Under the guise of transhumance of bees, because he also specialized in the manufacture of hives, he hid the flour inside the boxes.”
The art of resourcefulness seems to be in the family DNA.
