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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The communal oil mill of Barroux was built in 1792, in a context of tensions between the inhabitants and the last lord of the village. In 1790, after the latter refused to open his mill to the villagers, the municipality decided to redevelop a former municipal butcher shop as a communal mill. The aim of the project was to ensure access to oil production for all inhabitants, regardless of seigneurial decisions.

The mill, which had been in operation since the winter of 1792, was enlarged in 1793 and remained in operation until 1853. It was equipped with a blood mill mechanism (operated by animal or human force) in a first vaulted room, and several arm presses in a second room. These facilities were used to press olives to extract oil from them, collected in stone settling tanks. A second partially preserved blood mill was probably adjacent.

The building, located on the ground floor of a communal building, is distinguished by its structure divided into two spaces by a central pillar supporting arches. The presses, arranged in low arches, were supplemented by conquets (stone reception blocks) and pressure screws, only one of which remains intact today. The building, a mixed property (municipal and private), was listed for historical monuments on 19 July 2006 for its heritage and technical character.

The construction and repairs of the mill were entrusted to the local entrepreneurs Jean-Matthieu Tourre and Jean-Anicet Tourre. Their intervention illustrates the ingenuity of the rural communities of the late eighteenth century, able to organize themselves to circumvent seigneurial privileges and ensure their economic autonomy. The mill thus bears witness to the social and technical changes of the French Revolution in Provence.

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