INVENTORY OF SITES THE ÉOLIENNE DIRECTORY : PAGE 1 A HISTORY OF THE ÉOLIENNE BOLLÉE Main cover picture: this 1930s Chevalier and Jean-Claude Pestel for advertisement from La Maine their help in obtaining images and Découverte extols the virtues of then information. comparatively-new Éolienne Bollée Lists of protected sites published No. 4, concentrating on its utility by Archive Merimée and searches of as a water pump and an electricity locations made with the assistance generator: something very few such of the admirable ‘Géoportail’ of the sites ever did. Courtesy of Jean-Claude Institut Géographique National Pestel. (http://www.ign.fr) have allowed many individual sites to be traced. However, this is an area in which progress can NOTE still be made with personal visits. The problem of recording all the Several versions of this directory details of these unique machines— have been published since the early much less conserving them—still 2000s, but the project is still far from presents a very real threat to complete. This is partly due to the fact progress…and the ultimate goal, a that most of the compilation work has French-language translation, still been done in Britain (and, ironically, seems so very far away. is currently only available in English). This version of the list has been Consequently, the best way of moving updated to 14th November 2017. forward seems to be simply to make One major problem, still to be the ‘work-to-date’ accessible in the addressed, concerns the reorganisation hope that enthusiasts (and owners of the French regions implemented of the Éoliennes!) will be able to fill last year. Appropriate changes will blanks and expand individual entries. be made in the next release of this We are particularly grateful to Francis inventory! Bonneteaud,Francis Cahuzac, Jean John Walter and Régis Girard, 2017 PAGE 2 : THE ÉOLIENNE DIRECTORY INVENTORY OF SITES The gazetteer: introduction The lists that follow give brief details promoting adjoining villages! These of more than three hundred Éoliennes views are often, but not invariably Bollée made in France from 1871 until taken from different viewpoints. 1932. Information remains sketchy Some Éoliennes Bollée visible in old in many respects, but it is hoped that photographs and picture-postcards, additional research will gradually particularly those published prior enable most of the blanks to be filled. to 1914, are described as simply as The basis of the cataloguing is Moulins; others as Moulins à Vent; and numerical, largely because cataloguing at least one as La Machine Élévatoire. by name—see index!—is not as easy Some of them may not be the focus of to achieve as it seems. Individual the illustrations, yet may still be seen machines may be known by the names in the background of Le Lavoir (the of châteaux or the communes, villages wash-house) or Le Jardin de Potager or municipalities in which they were (the vegetable garden). Others may be erected. This is understandable in view visible in Vue générale du Village. of the uncertainty that surrounds the Identification can also be hampered identity of many clients, but less so in by the similarity of communal names the cases of well-documented private which reflect the essentially Catholic purchases. Consequently, privately heritage of France. Saints’ names, in owned ‘estate Éoliennes’ are listed particular, are so widely favoured that here by the name of the site (usually suffixes are necessary to distinguish a château); communal/municipal the multitude of ‘Saint-Christophes’, acquisitions are listed by the name of ‘Saint-Germains’ or ‘Saint-Pierres’. the village, town or district; and the These suffixes often refer to a few uncertain attributions are listed by geographical feature—the river on the name of the nearest village. which the village stands, a district This can often change established name or something within the terminology: for example, the site communal boundaries (e.g., Colombey- once customarily identified as les-Deux-Églises, ‘Colombey with two ‘Crucey Village’ is now listed as ‘La churches’). However, similar names Houdière’—the name of the farm in make sites difficult to trace. Typical which it stands. of these is a machine identified on Identification can also be a postcard only as ‘La Ferme du complicated by errors in source Mesnil-d’Açon’ in Eure. The Michelin documents, including Auguste- Tourist and Motoring Atlas lists seven Sylain Bollée’s own client-lists; by communes in Eure alone, from Le the omission of accents on hand-set Mesnil-Fuguet to Mesnil-Verclives, printers’ type; and, in at least one but the actual site does not appear in case, simply because the Éolienne the atlas index! Le Mesnil[‘-d’Açon’] Bollée appears in picture-postcards stands due east of Tillières-sur-Avre. THE ÉOLIENNE DIRECTORY : PAGE 3 A HISTORY OF THE ÉOLIENNE BOLLÉE NORTH-EAST 91 Essonne, 92 Hauts-de-Seine, Alsace (code ‘AL’): 93 Seine-Saint-Denis, 94 Val-de-Marne, 67 Rhin (Bas-), 68 Rhin (Haut-) 95 Val-de-Oise Bourgogne (code ‘BO’): Lorraine (code ‘LO’): 21 Côte d’Or, 58 Nièvre, 71 Saône-et-Loire, 54 Meurthe-et-Moselle, 55 Meuse, 89 Yonne 57 Moselle, 88 Vosges Champagne (code ‘CH’): Nord–Pas-de-Calais (code ‘NP’): 08 Ardennes, 10 Aube, 51 Marne, 59 Nord, 62 Pas-de-Calais 52 Marne (Haute-) Picardie (code ‘PI’): Franche-Comté (code ‘FC’): 02 Aisne, 60 Oise, 80 Somme 25 Doubs, 39 Jura, 70 Saône (Haute-), 90 Territoire de Belfort NORTH-WEST Île de France (Région Parisienne, code ‘IF’): Basse-Normandie (code ‘BN’): 75 Paris, 77 Seine-et-Marne, 78 Yvelines, 14 Calvados, 50 Manche, 61 Orne Pre-2016 Régions and Départements of France The map shows the previous grouping of individual French Départements (numbered) and administrative regions lettered). PAGE 4 : THE ÉOLIENNE DIRECTORY INVENTORY OF SITES No. 219 Above: an aerial view of Arthonnay, in the department of Yonne. A No. 2 Éolienne Bollée was erected next to the Mairie (not visible in the photograph) in 1897. This machine apparently worked into the 1960s, and survives in good condition. From a picture-postcard published by Editions Sofer, sent to Paris in December 1969 but probably dating from the 1950s. Bretagne (code ‘BR’): 04 Alpes-de-Haut-Provence, 05 Alpes 22 Côtes-du-Nord, 29 Finistère, (Hautes), 06 Alpes-Maritimes, 13 35 Ille-et-Vilaine, 56 Morbihan Bouches-du-Rhône, 83 Var, 84 Vaucluse Centre (code ‘CE’): Rhône-Alpes (code ‘RA’): 18 Cher, 28 Eure-et-Loir, 36 Indre, 01 Ain, 07 Ardèche, 26 Drôme, 38 Isère, 42 37 Indre-et-Loire, 41 Loir-et-Cher, Loire, 69 Rhône, 73 Savoie, 45 Loiret 74 Savoie (Haute-) Haute-Normandie (code ‘HN’): 27 Eure, 76 Seine-Maritime SOUTH-WEST Pays de la Loire (code ‘PL’): Aquitaine (code ‘AQ’): 44 Loire-Atlantique, 49 Maine-et-Loire, 24 Dordogne, 33 Gironde, 40 Landes, 47 53 Mayenne, 72 Sarthe, 85 Vendée Lot-et-Garonne, 64 Pyrénées-Atlantiques Limousin (code ‘LI’): SOUTH-EAST 19 Corrèze, 23 Creuse, 87 Vienne (Haute-) Auvergne (code ‘AU’): Midi-Pyrénées (code ‘MP’): 03 Allier, 15 Cantal, 43 Loire (Haute-), 09 Ariège, 12 Aveyron, 31 Garonne 63 Puy-de-Dôme (Haute-), 32 Gers, 46 Lot, 65 Pyrénées Languedoc-Rousillion (code ‘LR’): (Hautes-), 81 Tarn, 82 Tarn-et-Garonne 11 Aude, 30 Gard, 34 Hérault, 48 Lozère, Poitou-Charente (code ‘PO’): 66 Pyrénées-Orientales 16 Charente, 17 Charente-Maritime, Provence-Côte-d’Azur (code ‘PC’): 79 Sèvres (Deux-), 86 Vienne THE ÉOLIENNE DIRECTORY : PAGE 5 A HISTORY OF THE ÉOLIENNE BOLLÉE No. 346. The No. 3 Éolienne Bollée serving the gardens of the Manoir de la Touche dates from early in the twentieth century. It is among the most interesting of the surviving sites because some elements—the braced crossbeams overhanging the water tank, for example—are typical of neither Bollée nor Lebert practice. However, it now seems that construction was undertaken by Lebert in 1901. Photograph taken by Régis Girard in 2007. PAGE 6 : THE ÉOLIENNE DIRECTORY INVENTORY OF SITES The material that follows lists all the The opportunity to correct this error Éolienne Bollée sites that had been was soon taken, though all numbers identified by the summer of 2017, above 78 had to be reduced by one. exceeding 350 (including several that The new total of 218 machines erected stood on two different sites and are prior to February 1894, however, still sometimes entered twice). agreed with the assessment based on No. 1 Éoliennes Bollée had a rotor Bollée’s lists. diameter of 2·5m (8·2ft); No. 2 rotors Though many individual sites measured 3·5m (11·5ft); No. 3 rotors have now been linked with their true were 5m (16·4ft) in diameter; and No. 4 names, identification of others is still had a 7m (23ft) rotor. The dimensions tentative; it is not always clear if a of the Nos. 1, 2 and 3 were deliberately geographical name—of a commune, chosen to give a surface area—and for example—masks a château, a thus power—in the ratio 1:2:4. religious establishment or a factory site. Renaming does not affect the sites numbered below 218, which are Site lists chronological, but often changes the essentially alphabetical post-1894 lists. The details have been compiled from Names and locations given in Bollée’s client lists, and from the the original Bollée sales lists are personal observations of several sometimes compromised by spelling people. The summary of éoliennes errors, and also by changes in civil made by Ernest-Sylvain and Auguste- organisation since the 1890s. This can Sylvain Bollée prior to February 1894 reflect changes in population, reducing is sufficiently accurate to allow the the status of some communes, or sites to be numbered sequentially.