In 1687, all the farmers in Drakenstein made use of a public mill. By 1738, a new public mill was built in Drakenstein. Other than this, there were only two other mills: on Elsenburg and on Simons Valley. By 1741, the Joubert family, La Motte’s second owners (1709–1741), had a mill on Provence, the farm they lived on. According to the inventories of La Motte’s fourth owner, Gabriël du Toit, there was already a mill on La Motte by 1793. As the builder of the first structures on La Motte, we presume Du Toit must have built it between 1751 and 1793. Based on old maps of the farm that indicate these structures, we can deduce that the mill was built between 1770 and 1782. In recent times, the watermill was restored by Anton Rupert and was declared a national monument on 12 December 1975 (today recognised as part of a provincial heritage site). Gears and machinery were sourced from the farm Matjesriver in Ceres. From 2021-2022, it was restored to full working order for regular use by millwright and molinologist, Andy Selfe.