Researching the history of mills
Water cornmills tend to remain on the same site, however often rebuilt. So a mill that now looks 18th or 19th-century could be concealing a much longer history. The Domesday Book lists around 6,000 mills in England in 1086. Many of these mills continue to be mentioned in documents in succeeding centuries and eventually appear on maps.
The earliest mills in Europe used the horizontal wheel. There are examples today in the Orkneys and Shetland, known as clack mills or Norse mills. More familiar today are the vertical wheel mills. In the undershot type the water turns flat blades from the bottom of the wheel. In the Middle Ages the more efficient overshot type (see image left) was introduced. Diagram of types of water wheel.
Tidal mills made use of the power of the tide in coastal areas. The earliest tidal mill so far discovered in Europe was excavated at Nendrum, Northern Ireland. It was built in 619-21 for an early Christian monastery. Tidal mills have continued in use until modern times, but were always rare by comparison with standard riverine mills.
Windmills appeared in England from c.1180. A fixed structure
would only work if the wind was blowing in the right direction, so the
post mill, which could be turned into the wind, was soon
preferred. They were often sited high or built on a raised mound to catch more
wind. A logical development by the end of the Middle Ages was the tower
mill. The tower gave height, and only a cap holding the sails
revolved. Smock mills, which arrived by the late 16th
century, are similar, but entirely timber-built, whereas the tower type was
built of durable brick or stone, so more tower mills survive. Windmills were
favoured in the windy flatlands of East Anglia and watermills in upland areas,
with fast- running rivers and streams.
Most villages had a mill to grind corn, but this power-source could be turned to other uses. The invention of mechanical fulling by waterpower was apparently introduced to these islands by religious orders, particularly the Cistercians. Fulling mills turned England into a major cloth-making country from the 14th century. They were known as walk mills in northern England and tuck mills in the South-west.
By Tudor times mills were adapted to other industrial uses, such as paper-making, lead-smelting and tanning. The most dangerous of these was gunpowder-making. The risk of violent explosions meant that powder mills were generally sited well away from towns and villages. The Industrial Revolution saw the creation of large-scale spinning mills - see Factories.
Secondary sources
- Bielenberg, A. (ed.), Irish Flour Milling: A History 600-2000 (2004).
- Bond, C.J., Medieval Windmills in South-western England (SPAB 1995). Gazetteer.
- Brown, R.J., Windmills of England (1976). Gazetteer of survivals.
- Bryan, T., Windmill Gazetteer for England (The Mills Research Group 1998). Lists all windmill sites in England with remains over 600mm high.
- Coulthard, A.J. and Watts, M., The Windmills of Somerset (1978). Includes gazetteer of survivals and sites.
- Crocker, A.G. et al., Gunpowder mills: Documents of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Surrey Record Society vol. 36 (2000) includes a general history of gunpowder-making, with views of mill interiors.
- Davies, A.E., Paper-Mills and Paper-Makers in Wales 1700-1900, National Library of Wales Journal, Volume XV/1 (1967). Includes gazetteers of paper mills in Wales at various dates in the 19th century.
- Dolman, P., Lincolnshire Windmills: A contemporary survey (Lincolnshire County Council 1986). The council has made extracts available online, accompanied by photographs by Peter Kirk at Lincolnshire Windmills.
- Hicks, C., The Industrial Archaeology of Gunpowder Mills. Includes a gazetteer of sites which can be visited.
- Holt, R., The Mills of Medieval England (1988).
- Kealey, E.J., Harvesting the Air (1987).
- Lindsey, C.F., Windmills: a bibliographical guide (1974).
- Mills and Millers of Ireland: The newsletter of The Society for the Preservation of Ancient and Traditional Irish Mills. Extracts online.
- Shorter, A. H., Paper Mills and Paper Makers in England 1495-1800(1957). Includes a gazetteer with references of paper mills in England and Wales up to 1800.
- Stirk, J.V., The Lost Mills: A history of paper-making in County Durham (2006).
- Watts, M., The Archaeology of Mills and Milling (2002).
- Wenham, P., Watermills (1989). Includes gazetteer.
- West, J., Windmills of Kent, 2nd edn. (1979). Includes gazetteer of survivals and sites.
Primary sources
Mills are among the easier buildings to research. Unlike dwellings which may have many confusing changes of name and/or number over the years, a mill is always known as such. Medieval mills came under the control of the manorial lord and so should appear in manorial court rolls and estate papers. (A building lease for a tidal mill at Eling, Hants 1418 gives interesting details of the proposed construction.) For the joint ownership of some medieval Welsh mills see medieval land-holding in Wales.
The Mills Archive in Reading holds records about traditional mills and milling, including the collection of the Mills Section of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings. Thousands of digital images are online, together with a full catalogue of the rest of the archive, and some documents, such as information on English mills extracted from the 1881 Census Returns.
The Royal Gunpowder Mills at Waltham Abbey has an archive of maps and architectural drawings relating to the site, along with around 2000 documents and images, covering the history of gunpowder and explosives manufacture with particular reference to Waltham Abbey.
Millers were so often fined for dishonesty that they regularly appear in hundred court rolls as well, some of which have been calendared in print by local record societies - see Mullins.
See also sources for houses.
Images
- The NMR has a collection relating to windmills.
- Kent University has several collections relating to windmills and watermills, including a large number of photographs of English and Welsh windmills.
- Windmills were popular subjects for artists of the Norwich School, like Cotman (right above). Check local art gallery collections.