THE GAUMIER FULLER MILL
The Moulin à Foulon de Gaumier, the only working Moulin à Foulon in France, is a hydraulic testimony to the Sèvre river.
On the banks of the Sèvre Nantaise river, a free walk inside a restored fuller's mill and dyeing factory. It is the only working fuller mill in France! Testimony of the hydraulic exploitation of the river Sèvre, for working wool. This use of hydraulic power dates back to the Middle Ages and took off in the middle of the 17th century. Two of the three casks of the Gaumier mill are restored. Hydraulic threshing, with heavy wooden mallets hitting the woven wool, is a complementary finishing operation to spinning and weaving. The reconstruction of a wool machine is presented in the laundry room. The aim of the dyeing plant was to deeply impregnate the wool with a colouring and resistant substance. The reconstruction of the dyeing room allows us to explain the process and to present samples of the different fabrics that could be found: Étamine, Frisian, Pinchinat, Droguet, Kamoulk, Berluche... An 18th century cloth press (central wooden screw) was used to polish the fabric, and a woollen machine, whose purpose was to pass a tool fitted with thistles over the surface of the fabric to bring out the hairs, which were then sheared. There is also a presentation of the Sèvre and its mills in the 18th century (100 to 140 mills in the region), as well as an explanation of how a fuller works with the names of the different parts of the fuller: the sleeper, the mallet, the pile, the trough...
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