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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The windmill of Beauvert, located in Donzère in the Drôme, was built around 1550-1555 on a plot ceded by the bishop of Viviers to the local chestnut. Its construction, during the wars of Religion, explains its defensive character: deep foundations, secure doors and a shrub. The tower, in lime-covered limestone bellows, dominates the landscape with a monumental facade, marked by a monitoring window aligned with the entrance door.

Between 1608 and 1842, the mill suffered major deterioration, to the point of being declared "demolished" on the 19th century cadastres. Yet its tower remains intact today. Inside, the ground floor served as an attic and shed for flour bags, while the floor was home to two grinding wheels, a fireplace and a closet, suggesting occasional use as a miller's habitat. The conical rotation system, typical of the provençal mills, was operated via a rack on a "sleeping path" in slabs, as the archaeological traces attest.

Excavations revealed an area to beat the grain south of the tower, confirming its central role in local grain production. Ranked a Historic Monument in 2010, the mill stands out for its hybrid architecture, combining milling and military adaptations. The plot and the area to be beaten are protected, highlighting the heritage importance of this vestige of the sixteenth–XIX centuries.

At the beginning of the 19th century, interior arrangements (lime mortar floor) partially modernized the structure, without altering its original design. The conical cap, now extinct, made it possible to orient the wings according to the wind, an ingenious mechanism for the time. The mill thus illustrates the evolution of agricultural techniques and the historical tensions of the region, between religious conflicts and economic needs.

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