La vallée des rouets (spinning wheels valley)
Remonter aux sources de la coutellerie thiernoise…
Going back to the roots of Thiers cutlery industry
The Durolle
This small river has its source near Noirétable, a small city 25km from Thiers.
Engorged by many tributaries, and engouraged by a more and more vertical drop, it acquires the vigor necessary for the smooth running of spinning wheels near Celles sur Durolle small town.
From there, and up to Thiers, the Durolle has dug a strait valley.
The energy of this river channeled by men is at the origin of the cutlery history of Thiers. It is the durolle which fed the machines necessary for the knives production.
So, over than 20km, our ancestors shaped the gorge and the banks : pathways created into steep slopes, valve channels built in the river bed, and mills built everywhere it was possible.
In total, more than 50 channels were dug to tame the Durolle and supply more than 80 water mills.
First built near Thiers, the rouets have, with the cutlery industry development, gradually colonized the river banks until Celles sur Durolle.
The water energy of “Les rouets” (spinning wheels)
On the ground floor of the mill, the knive grinders (émouleurs in french) worked side by side, lying down on sloping wooden planks overhanding a wheel driven by the stream.
This position gave them more pushing strength to grind the blades, that is to say, give them sharpness.
Upstairs, women were doing the same gesture on polishing wheels (wooden discs trimmed with leather straps) in order to give to the blade their final brilliant finish.
Children who were old enough to use the machines were learning near their mother.
Then, young boys would joined their father when they were strong enough.
Outside, a small garden, some arrangements, few ornaments which occupied the knife grinders when the Durolle was too capricious to turn the wheels.
At the beginning of the 20th century, about 600 people were still working in a rouet.
The electricity coming and, with it, the production mecanisation, have led to the decline of the profession from 1930.
The last Knife grinder, Georges (Jojo) Lyonnet, was our great-uncle !
He has closed his rouet in 1976 and bequeathed it, and all inside, to the city of Thiers in order to leave a material testimony of how were life and work in the Vallée des Rouets.
Today, it is possible to visit The Valley and the Rouet du Lyonnet with or without guide.
Abandoned to nature, channels and rouets have softly became ruines, heavy of history.
The Valley atmosphere is near from magic and charged by a past life that is still palpable and fascinating.
To visit without any hesitation !
