Le Moulin Gueffard

The commune of L'Ile d'Olonne is home to one of the oldest mills in the conurbation: the Gueffard mill, an emblematic site in the Ile d'Olonne landscape.

It is mentioned in 1703 on a map by the engineer Claude Massé and on the Napoleonic cadastre in 1830 as the "Moulin de Guéfart". However, a document dated 1656 referring to the "Moulin du Bourg" suggests that it already existed in the 17th century, or perhaps even earlier.
Originally, it was the former banal mill, i.e. it belonged to the seigneur de la Cour de l'Ile d'Olonne, who financed its construction and earned a substantial income from it. It operated until 1932.
There were other mills on the Ile d'Olonne:

• one was in the village of "La Salaire" and was destroyed during the Revolution;
• two were in the village of "La Burelière", shown on Claude Massé's plans, but only one is recorded on the 1830 land register;
• one at "La Fée", a more recent 19th century mill;
• finally, further on, the "Clouzis" mill on the road to Saint-Mathurin, and finally, the mill in the village: the "Moulin de Guéfart".

It has a diameter of around 5.4 metres and a height of over 7 metres before covering. It originally had two doors at the bottom and two windows at the top, which could be accessed depending on the direction of the wind and the orientation of the blades. It originally operated in the same way as all other mills in Poitou, with a rudder that steered the mill's wings in the direction of the wind.
The mill's last miller was Clément Constant Généreux Letard (nicknamed "Parfait" by his wife!) He ceased all activity in 1931 and the abandoned mill, deprived of its wings, slowly fell into ruin.
It was finally bought by the commune of Ile d'Olonne in 2002, and it was in 2016 that the SMPI Association (Sauvegarde du Moulin et du Patrimoine Islais) was set up to propose a solution for developing the old Gueffard mill. This project was adopted after consultation with the local population.
From 2021 until the roof was replaced on 14 December 2022, restoration work was carried out to consolidate the mill's foundations and create a viewpoint accessible via a central spiral staircase.

The viewpoint is now open to the public free of charge, giving as many people as possible a panoramic viewpoint from which to appreciate the beauty of the marshes, countryside and village of Ile d'Olonne.