The role of the millstone

During the Tertiary and Quaternary eras, a long period of lakeside and marine sedimentation allowed deposits of millstone, limestone, green clay and siliceous sand to form.

This period was followed by slow erosion, which caused the formation of the Brie plateau.

This limestone formation was very often covered by a layer of cavernous millstone, used for building houses, and whose insulation powers contributed for a long period of time in regulating inside/outside temperatures before the our modern constructions were invented.

The lower layer, which is much more dense, was used for making mills to grind grain.
These siliceous rocks, often cavernous, are very widespread in the Paris region. Lacking our current methods of transports, businesses were set up right on the exploitation sites.

This is how the town of La Ferté-sous-Jouarre, only a few kilometres away from Meaux, became a very important centre for the exploitation of these rock formations.

In the fifteenth century, monolithic millstones were already being made with large blocks extracted from the plateau.

These enterprises comprised more than 800 people who worked from the stone quarry up until the transportation of the finished millstones, which became renown throughout the world, and were exported to England and to North America.

The millstones from La Ferté-sous-Jouarre were known as the best in Europe.

The millstone workers' job was one of the most unhealthy in the world. The millstone quarries were in the open air, and in most cases, the stones were extracted using hammers, sledgehammers, and crowbars.
The atmosphere was infested with millstone dust, which left most of the workers with no more than twenty years professional activity before succumbing to galloping consumption. The workers also drank a lot of alcohol, and bad alcohol at that, which certainly did not help matters.

Once the stone extracted, the work was finished on site, the stone being broken up in the direction of the faults seen in the rockbed. The stone was then set into shape with the help of a sharp-pointed hammer.

At first, the millstones were cut out of one block, then the workers spent weeks cutting them, polishing them, making furrows, but in a fault was discovered in the rock at the end of the process, then it had to be abandoned.

Then work-shop assembled millstones appeared.
Indeed, it became easier and safer to work with several pieces that were assembled in a template, which were then solidified with plaster at first, then later by cement.

At the centre of the millstones was a round hole known as an ‘eyehole' allowing the grains to go down into the mill.
Next, the millstones were encircled in iron, then set into shape to make them as smooth as possible.

Then came the final stage before their entry into the active phase, furrows needed to be made going from the centre to words the circumference, while maintaining an entrance near the hole.

Each furrow and line was adapted to the seeds to be crushed. These were obviously different for mustard seeds and for corn.

The balancing of the millstone was the final important stage, ensuring there was no unbalance in order to not wear down one side more than the other, and to keep a “supple” rotation.

The maintenance of the furrows of the millstones was done either by the miller himself or by a maintenance worker.

The manufacturing of millstones has completely disappeared since 1880 by conglomerate millstones and cylinders.

At the beginning of the last century, in this region, there were 250 windmills, as well as water mills.

Today, only one windmill which survived this upheaval has been renovated, in Gastins, which is near Rozay-en-Brie.
Its most striking characteristic is in the wooden sails designed by the engineer Berthon. It also has two pairs of millstones fro La-Ferté -Jouarre.

We would like to help the Eco Musée de la Meulière for the documents and information provided.

If you have any questions, or documents to pass on to these mill fans, you can contact them:

ECO MUSEE DE LA MEULIERE
Monsieur Jacques BEAUVOIS
Les Poupelins
REUIL
77730 SAACY-FRANCE