Les moulins du Clos du Cotentin : contribution à l’étude d’un facteur et indicateur de l’évolution du territoire et de ses contingences naturelles et anthropiques

Abstract

The mills which are to be seen scattered over the old maps of the Cotentin Peninsula bear witness to forgotten customs. They left their mark on local landscapes even after they had been abandoned and the roads leading to them were no longer frequented. Whether they were simple water-mills or industrial flour-mills, they had a dramatic influence on the water courses on which they were located and on the estuaries, the form of which was often shaped by tide-mills mills which are no longer visible today. The windmills, with their ‘machine-architecture’ gave life to the hilltops. Their unusual primitive turrets which, still flanked by amazing milling cages in the 19th century, may have been invented in this region.

Keywords

• tower
• Normandy
• landscape
• water mill
• windmill
• turquoise