Ancienne papeterie de Vaux
MonumentHidden Treasure
Ancienne papeterie de Vaux, located in Payzac (Dordogne), is a medieval landmark built in the Middle Ages. The monument is currently closed to visitors.
Key facts
- Type
- autre
- Period
- Medieval (11th-15th century)
- Location
- Payzac, Dordogne, Nouvelle-Aquitaine
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 45.3910, 1.2459
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00135168
Jewel of industrial heritage in the Dordogne, the former papeterie de Vaux retains its nineteenth-century production line intact, with its bucket hydraulic wheels and its round mould machine — an exceptionally rare testament to Limousin rye paper.
History
Nestling in the green Périgord countryside, the former Vaux paper mill in Payzac is one of the few paper mills in France to have retained all of its original equipment. Listed as a Historic Monument since 1996, it is an exceptional testimony to the rural industry of the 19th century, frozen in time like a sunken ship that has miraculously been refloated. What makes this site absolutely unique is the total coherence of its production chain: from the vertical bucket water wheels - some of which date back to the 18th century - to the refining stacks made in Angoulême, not forgetting the round-shaped machine from the Nexon workshops and the Duveau & Trousset firms, everything is there, in place, as if the workers had just left the premises. This kind of integrity is extremely rare in France. The experience of visiting the site is one of total immersion in a vanished world. You can almost hear the roar of the mechanisms, imagine the ballet of hoists and mandrels, the heat of the drying cylinders fed by the Serves Frères boiler. The racks and die-cutters seem to be waiting for someone to restart production. The paper mill also tells a singular technical story: that of rye paper, a Limousin invention that was used to dress butcher's meat throughout the region for over a century. The natural setting adds to the magic of the site. Located in the heart of the Périgord Vert region, on the banks of a stream that powered its waterwheels, the paper mill is set in a landscape of wooded hills and meadows that has hardly changed since the time of Camille Bon. The municipality of Payzac, which has owned the site since the mill closed in 1968, has embarked on an ambitious restoration programme to preserve the authenticity of the site while making it accessible to the public.
Architecture
The former Vaux paper mill features the sober, functional architecture typical of rural factories during the Second Empire. The buildings, built of local stone - the sandstone limestone and granite abundant in the Périgord Vert - are organised around the imperative logic of production: the watercourse, water wheels and production line dictate a longitudinal plan that follows the natural topography of the site. The low-sloped roofs, covered in Canal-style flat tiles, blend harmoniously into the Périgord landscape. The interior is dominated by the two monumental and silent vertical bucket-wheels, which were the beating heart of the factory. Around them is a series of transmission mechanisms - shafts, belts, gears - that redistributed the driving force to the refining stacks and the round machine. The latter, a nineteenth-century masterpiece of precision engineering, produced paper continuously on a wire-covered cylinder. The Serves Frères boiler, an imposing cylindrical piece of riveted steel equipment, interacts with the old masonry structures in a bold marriage of materials and eras. The remarkable homogeneity of the ensemble - all the machines, cutting machines, hoists, rollers, mandrels and racks are still in place - gives the Vaux paper mill an exceptional museographic density. No reconstructions have been carried out, and nothing has been moved: the workspace remains as it was for the paper-makers until 1968, making this industrial building a living historical document of irreplaceable value.
Related Figures
Camille Bon — fondateur de la papeterie en 1861, initiateur de la conversion de l'ancienne forge en manufacture papetièreServes Frères (Saint-Étienne) — constructeurs de la chaudière industrielle installée en 1925Établissements Duveau & Trousset (Angoulême) — fournisseurs de la machine à forme rondeAteliers de Nexon (Limoges) — co-constructeurs de la machine à forme rondeArtisans papetiers angoumoisins — concepteurs et fabricants des piles raffineuses
Tags
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Ancienne papeterie de Vaux located?
Ancienne papeterie de Vaux is located in Payzac, Dordogne department, Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, France.
When was Ancienne papeterie de Vaux built?
Ancienne papeterie de Vaux dates back to a period built in the Middle Ages (11th-15th century).
Is Ancienne papeterie de Vaux open to visitors?
Ancienne papeterie de Vaux is currently closed to visitors.