Bessac : Straw

The Moulin de la Paille, a round masonry mill built between 1791 and 1792, is one of the best preserved in the region. Built on an artificial mound near a second mill, in ruins, dating from 1755, it is intact and surmounted by a pointed roof redone in chestnut shingles. The miller could guide the rotating roof using a management pole called Guivre. When the wind turned the wings, this led to the rotation of the tree, which was inclined 15 ° compared to the horizontal, activating the mechanisms inside. The wheel, located in the center of the tree, turned the lantern, transmitting this movement with a large iron connected to the wheel in operation. The grain, poured into the œuries of the grinders, was crushed at different levels of finesse by adjusting the spacing of the wheels, which the miller could adjust to obtain the desired version. The flour descended by a chute to the ground floor of the mill, where it could be conditioned in bags. This mill keeps many original elements, including the north door, the staircase, the chute, the millstones and their support, the wheel, as well as parts of the tree and the orientation pole.