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Origin and history

The mill hanged at Champtoceaux, also known as fortified tolls, is a medieval building built on a rock on the left bank of the Loire, at the place called Le Port-du-Moulin. Probably dating from the 13th century for its oldest part (sudden cule) and from the 4th quarter of the 14th century (1384-1385, according to dendrochronological analyses on stilts), these seigneurial mills operated thanks to wheel-bearing tides and seasons. Their granite masonry, located perpendicular to the waterline, consisted of three fore-beek piles and two wheel tracks, adjustable according to the level of the river. Upstairs remain the remains of the grinding and lifting mechanisms.

The site also served as a river toll as early as the 7th century, with a stone dam system (spur) deviating navigation to collect rights of passage. A turkish (or due), a wood and stone work that had disappeared today, guided the waters to the mills during a stretch and allowed boats to pass through a pertuis. The mills, already in ruins at the end of the seventeenth century, were used as a stone quarry in 1788. The site also housed a steamship port until the arrival of the railway, marking its definitive decline.

Ranked a historic monument in 1975, the hanged mills illustrate the adaptation of medieval techniques to river constraints. Their gradual abandonment to the benefit of moulin boats (from 1420) and their partial disappearance reflect the technological and economic developments of the Loire. Today, the remains, owned by the commune of Orée d'Anjou, recall the strategic importance of this crossroads between Maine-et-Loire and Loire-Atlantique, near the Château de Champtoceaux.

Historical sources, including plans from the 18th century, have identified their initial function as seigneurial mills, contradicting the erroneous designation of fortified tolls. Their unique architecture, combining masonry and stilts, makes it a rare testimony of the pre-industrial infrastructures linked to milling and the control of waterways. The site, accessible from RD 751, remains a marker of the Liguria heritage, between medieval heritage and memory of river activities.

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