Moulin à vent Richard, dit aussi de Saint-Thomas
MonumentHidden Treasure
A wooden sentinel over the Beauce plain, this 18th-century pivot mill fascinates visitors with its semi-automatic Berton mechanism and chestnut cage that can be turned to face the Beauce winds.
© Wikimedia Commons
History
In the heart of the Beauce Dunois region, in the peaceful village of Bazoches-en-Dunois, the Richard mill - also known as the Saint-Thomas mill - stands as a living testimony to traditional milling architecture. Far from the masonry silhouettes we sometimes associate with postcard mills, this entirely wooden building embodies another, more discreet and older tradition, that of the pivot mill, where the entire cage pivots to seek out the wind. What makes this mill truly unique is the coexistence of two technical eras in the same structure. The wooden body, inherited from the eighteenth century, rests on a raised base that bears witness to a nineteenth-century adaptation to accommodate the Berton system: a semi-automatic device for opening the wings that represented a veritable revolution for Beauce millers at the time. Each wing, made up of movable hinged planks, allows the windage to be finely modulated without interrupting the rotation - a mechanical refinement that you wouldn't suspect at first glance. A visit to this mill is a plunge into rural ingenuity. You'll discover the chestnut strips that cover each side of the cage, a material chosen for its resistance to weather and damp. Small openings in the side walls and on the side of the tail let in subdued light, creating a unique atmosphere inside. The tail, a long sloping piece of wood, used to allow the miller to manually orientate the whole structure according to the direction of the wind - a daily, almost choreographed gesture that gave rhythm to life in the countryside. The surrounding setting adds to the charm of the visit. Set against the gentle undulations of the Dunn countryside, between cereal fields and open horizons, the Richard mill offers photographers and lovers of rural heritage a remarkable perspective, particularly in the golden hours of the late afternoon, when the low-angled light brings out the warm hues of the aged wood. The region between Chartres and Vendôme is home to other examples of this agricultural civilisation, but few have the technical completeness and formal integrity of this mill, which was listed as a Historic Monument in 1988.
Architecture
The Richard mill is a pivot mill, a type of mill building in which the entire wooden cage pivots on a central vertical axis to face the wind - as opposed to a tower mill, in which only the movable roof rotates. Its structure rests on a solid wooden pivot, the centrepiece of the whole structure, supported by sloping legs that transfer the loads to raised masonry piers, added in the 19th century when the Berton system was installed. This raised base gives the mill a recognisable silhouette, slightly higher than the most archaic pivot mills. The cage itself is clad in chestnut strips - a wood renowned for its natural waterproofing and resistance to fungus - which cover each of the four sides. Small openings on the sides and tail provide light and ventilation inside. The tail, a long sloping piece of wood extending from the main body down to the ground, is the mill's orientation organ; a staircase is attached to it, providing access to the upper floor and the interior mechanism. The Berton system wings are made up of movable slats hinged like blinds, whose angle can be adjusted to modulate the wind load, or even close them completely in the event of a storm. This semi-automatic device, linked by rods to the inner mechanism, represents the most advanced level of technical sophistication in nineteenth-century French wind milling.
Related Figures
Pierre-Théophile Berton — ingénieur français inventeur du système d'ailes à jalousies semi-automatiques qui porte son nom, adopté sur ce moulin au XIXe siècleLa famille Richard — meuniers propriétaires éponymes du moulin, figures de la vie agricole et artisanale de Bazoches-en-Dunois aux XVIIIe et XIXe sièclesLes meuniers de Beauce — figure sociale collective, gardiens d'un savoir-faire technique transmis de génération en génération dans cette plaine céréalière
