Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Clos-Guidon mill, built in the 2nd quarter of the 19th century on the left bank of the Thérain between Balleux and Vrocourt, consists of five separate buildings. His wood and torchi workshop, with brick and stone base, initially housed a blade wheel. This hydraulic mill, created in 1837 as an oil mill, illustrates the local economic changes, from milling to optics and then sawmilling.

Originally, the mill was built in 1837 by Nicolas Honoré Levasseur, owner of a bouillon mill in Crillon, on a historical site linked to Quentin Thierry, silversmith of the prince of Dombes in the seventeenth century. Declared operational on 28 January 1837 as a mill of the Argentry, it was regulated by a decree on the water regime on 11 July of the same year. In 1872, his son Charles Levasseur turned him into a flour mill equipped with English grinding wheels.

In 1882 the mill was bought by Auguste Duru, optician at Songeons, and his wife Henriette Lallemand, who converted it into a factory of optical equipment, specialized in glasses rods and glass polishing. Some of the buildings were demolished in 1884 to modernize the workshop. By alliance, the property was owned by Jules Alexandre Sanglier, who maintained the moonlight activity until 1922, reflecting the growth of this industry in the region.

Between 1923 and 1953, the site became a sawmill led by Jean André Sanglier, with major changes to adapt the premises. The hydraulic wheel, restored in 1936 by Alfred Welnoski, operated the machines until the abandonment of hydraulic energy in 1953 for the benefit of electricity. After 1980, the mill, a short time for an ecomuseum, has been restored since 1998 and now serves as a private dwelling.

The mill, registered with the Historical Monuments in 1990, retains its blade wheel, vanage and weir, although most of its original mechanisms have disappeared. Its history embodies the successive adaptations of an industrial heritage to local economic needs, from milling to bezeling and sawmilling.

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