To the sources of paper

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Le July 14, 2023

The Pays d'Angoulême was marked, for nearly 300 years, by the development of the paper industry.

The rise in the 16th century

The first mill attested in Charente is that of Negremus on the Lizonne, in 1516. Many wheat mills are adapted for the manufacture of paper and new mills are built especially for this activity.

La Lizonne had several mills which were among the first paper mills in France from the beginning of the 1533th century. In 1539, on the Boëme near La Couronne in Pont-des-Tables, Étienne de Prouzac created a paper mill. Then in 1555, in Puymoyen on the Eaux Claires, the Verger mill came into service, and in XNUMX the paper mill in Cothiers, on the Charreau, commune of La Couronne.

The growth of this industry is due to the many small regular streams and pure water, but also to the hemp that Angoumois produces. The port of Houmeau in Angoulême on the Charente, whose navigability to the ocean had been developed by François I, also played an essential role in the flow of goods, in particular with merchants first Bordeaux, then Dutch and English.

The clergy also encouraged this production following the invention of the printing press. Another cause of this development is the abundance and the quality of the raw material, the straws, or rags, which one finds in the province or the neighboring provinces.
The creations of paper mills or transformations of wheat or cloth mills continued for a

In 1656, a report from the intendant of the Generality of Limoges counted 66 mills in Angoumois with a total of 98 paper vats.

Your Program

The Paper Museum in Angoulême

10h30 - 12h

The paper museum is located on the banks of the Charente on the site of the former Joseph Bardou Le Nil cigarette paper mill. It was opened to the public on November 25, 1988. It presents exhibitions on industrial stationery from the XNUMXth and XNUMXth centuries, on related industries (printing, fabric and felt factories, mechanics, etc., etc.), on uses of paper.

Lunch on the banks of the Charente

12h

Lunch on the banks of the Charente

Visit of the dryers of the Logis de Forge

14h30 - 15h30

The former seigneury of Forge came under the fief of La Rochandry. The house dates back to the 15th century (mullioned bays; round tower with spiral staircase on the east facade). Two rectangular towers adorn the rear facade. Their skylights, from the Renaissance period, are decorated with a scallop shell, a tower, a monkey, an eagle and an elephant.

Visit of the La Courade paper factory

16h - 17h

The Moulin de la Courade is a former paper mill in the department of Charente, France. It is located on the Boëme, a tributary of the Charente and in the town of La Couronne
In 1741, it was part of the Royal Manufacture of Angoulême, created by the Parisian merchant Henry, with important privileges.