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Origin and history

The Lustrac mill, located in the eponymous hamlet on the town of Trentels (Lot-et-Garonne), was built around 1296 by Foulques de Lustrac on the right bank of the Lot. It relies on a dam built as part of the work undertaken by Edward I of England to make the river navigable between 1289 and 1294, thus facilitating the transport of goods from Quercy to Bordeaux. This project, entrusted to local entrepreneurs such as the Lustrac, was interrupted in 1294 when Philippe Le Bel seized the Agenes, before being partially revived in the 14th century. The mill, mentioned in a survey of 1311, became a major economic tool for the Lordship of Lustrac, allowing them to raise socially.

In the 16th century, the mill was rebuilt and then appeared on the cadastral plane of 1830 with two pairs of grinding wheels. In the 19th century, Joseph Meynot, mayor of Agen and polytechnician, acquired in 1891 to develop a mill and sawmill in the adjacent castle. Converted into a hydropower plant in the 1930s — with a brick and concrete elevation — the site was decommissioned by EDF in 1968. Restored in 1973 by the owners of the castle, it was transformed into a home, while preserving medieval architectural elements such as arches in the middle of the castle and a mobile bridge over the lock.

The lock and the mill, inseparable from Lustrac Castle built around 1296, illustrate medieval hydraulic engineering and its industrial evolution. The site, which has been protected since 1988 (façades, roofs, bief, lock and dam), also demonstrates the economic challenges associated with the airworthiness of the Lot. The 17th century works, under Louis XIV, had already modernized the lock system between Villeneuve-sur-Lot and Cahors, integrating the mill into a royal river system. Today, the ensemble forms an emblematic heritage of the Lot Valley, combining seigneurial history, technical innovation and contemporary adaptation.

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