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Origin and history

The plaster kilns of Berzé-la-Ville, located in the department of Saône-et-Loire, are gypsum calcination kilns, probably built in the 18th century. Owned by the monks of Cluny, the site was first used to extract gypsum plates to decorate religious buildings. In the 19th century, it became an industrial plaster factory, with an apogee under the Étienne Bonin (1840-1899), before being converted into a maltery and funnel.

The industrial operation began in 1840 with the creation of the Étienne Bonin factory, equipped with nine ovens and a 38 metre chimney (destroyed in 1902). The gypsum, extracted through underground galleries, was crushed, cooked and then sprayed to produce plaster. The milling, initially manual, was industrialised thanks to a hydraulic system adapted in 1838 by Estève Deville, then completed by a steam machine in 1855. The factory employed 12 workers in 1862 and closed in 1899.

The site, registered as a historical monument in 1994, is now preserved by the association Les Amis du Vieux Berzé, which works to safeguard the local heritage. The furnaces show the evolution of production techniques (wood and then coal) and economic conversions, such as the cultivation of mushrooms until the mid-20th century. Their gypsum, the most important of Saône-et-Loire, was 20 metres thick.

Heat from the ovens was also used for malt production, illustrating the ingenuity of local industrialists. After Bonin died in 1879, Jean-Marie Préaud relocated the mill to Berzé-la-Ville. The transport of the bags to the Saone was done via a locomobile designed by Bonin, highlighting the technical innovation of the time.

Today, the ovens (cadastre B 95, 96) are owned by the municipality. Their location, 7 Rue des Fours in Gypse, and their industrial history make it a rare testimony of plaster activity in Burgundy-Franche-Comté, linked to the heritage of the monks of Cluny and to the regional industrial revolution.

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