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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The windmills of La Mure, located on the hill north of Vassieux-en-Vercors, are part of a set of eight mills erected on this arid plateau of Vercors. Originally, these family buildings were used to grind grain for local residents, responding to a vital need in an area where water resources were limited. Today, only two mills remain: a small round tower, typical of provençal or Languedocian models, and an imposing cylindrical tower. Their interior architecture, although partially extinct, included attices, milling chambers and mechanisms operated by orientable wings thanks to racks.

The precise dating of these mills remains uncertain, although their construction is estimated between the late 16th and 17th centuries. The largest mill, used as a fortified point by the SS in July 1944, illustrates their strategic reuse during the Second World War. After their abandonment as mills, these buildings served as sheepfolds, sheds or lime ovens, demonstrating their adaptation to the changing needs of the community. Their rarity in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, or even in France, makes them remarkable remnants of the rural ingenuity of the past.

Classified as Historical Monuments in 2011, the mills of the Mure are now owned by the municipality of Vassieux-en-Vercors. A renovation project is under way to preserve these unique testimonies, whose wooden elements (measles, mechanisms) have mostly disappeared. Their presence on this site, once essential to the local economy, underlines the importance of windmills in isolated areas, where they were essential collective infrastructure.

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