The beginnings of industrial textile production already existed in the middle of the 19th century with the knitting and carding mills installed in mills to transform wool into felt or to soften hemp sheets.
Some of these mills evolved to become real textile factories at the end of the 19th century: the Devise family’s factory in Longua in Saint Médard de Mussidan, which processed wool, spun and wove it until the 1960s, or the carding and spinning mill installed in the Saint Astier mill at the end of the 19th century. The important factory of the Mussidan Mechanical Weaving Company was created in Sourzac in 1915 to produce table and toilet linen for the market of large administrations, transatlantic transport companies and hotel companies. In 1930, it operated 150 looms and produced 1,200,000 metres of canvas annually. A small workers’ housing estate was even built in Gabillou to house the workers according to the paternalistic conceptions of the time. The factory closed in 1972.
Illustrations :
– Engraving of the mechanism of a mesh or drums driven by hydraulic force (Diderot and d’Alembert, Encyclopaedia or Dictionary of Science, Arts and Crafts, 1751-1772)
– Postcard of the spinning mill installed on the Isle in the Saint Astier mill at the end of the 19th century. (Archives Départementales de la Dordogne, 2 Fi 1870).
– Letterheads of the woven shoe felt factory Fernand Devise de Longua in Saint Médard de Mussidan in 1919. (Collection Lajonie-Faurie)
– Aerial photograph of the Longua Devise family’s factory in Saint Médard de Mussidan in the 1950s. (Currency Collection)
– Postcard with an aerial view of the Mussidan Mechanical Weaving Factory in the 1940s and 1950s (Escarment Collection)
– Photographs of the interior of the Mussidan de Gabillou Mechanical Weaving factory in Sourzac in the 1950s. (Mathé Collection ©Musée André Voulgre) 2014.9.48 to 52
– Video of the ECR IV.9 with the portrait of craftsman Le filateur by Pascal Magontier.