A little history: a thousand-year odyssey from the Middle Ages to the present day
Soeuvres-patrimoine
Soeuvres-topologie
When you live at Moulin de Vézelay, you also share a little piece of history!
Located at a place called "Les Chenevières", at the north-eastern exit of the hamlet of Soeuvres, the mill dates back, according to Philippe Landry, to the Middle Ages.
Archives mention it in 1648. It was acquired by Vauban in 1680 and then belonged to various owners.
It is clearly mentioned on the Cassini map (18th century) and the 1818 land register shows all the buildings added at various times.
Our mill certainly beat hemp, it made rapeseed oil, flour and also participated in the crushing of oak bark to extract the tan which went to the tanneries to tan the cook. It was an important economy of the Morvan in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Operation of the mill ceased in 1910. In the 1950s and 1960s, the mill was saved from destruction by a pharmaceutical industrialist who restored all of the roofs and facades. In the 1970s the mill hosted a community of Zen monks who followed Deshimaru who imported Zen to Europe. Then he is abandoned again. Children from the village come to play there, a bar was set up there in the 90s and then a summer camp.
Finally, the mill was bought by a couple in 2000 who made a lot of renovations and improvements to turn it into gîtes and guest rooms.
We are buying the Vézelay mill in 2021 and we are continuing this adventure, always welcoming you to these stones steeped in history.
You will be able to find a permanent exhibition at the mill retracing its history, its operation, its location and the biodiversity of the site.