There has been a watermill at Mapledurham near Reading for almost 1000 years. After many centuries of traditional milling by waterwheel, the 20th century saw the introduction of a turbine to generate electricity for the estate. In 2010 this was replaced with a new Archimedean screw turbine, and as miller I witnessed its installation first hand.
Following on from the story of Puss in Boots, I thought it would also be interesting to tell the story of the Miller of Dee…
Medieval manuscripts from the 13th and 14th centuries provide vivid and revealing portrayals of the milling world. Illustrated with remarkable detail and often embedded within moral or religious texts, manuscripts such as Books of Hours, the Smithfield Decretals, and other illuminated works reflect not only the technical aspects of milling but also its cultural and symbolic significance.
In the golden age of roller milling, a few exceptional country mills stood out not only for their technical advancement but for the character and ingenuity of the families behind them. Two such mills, Yare…
Ventnor Mill was the oldest building in Ventnor on the Isle of Wight, which was, in about 1760, described as “a few lowly huts, a quaint modest little inn, and a water mill”.
What do these individuals have in common? They all owned or own watermills in southern and south-western counties of England.
I first met architect John Reynolds when I was editing the Mills and Millers of Hampshire set of books for the Hampshire Mills Group. He
In 1992 Michael Harverson visited Iran to look for watermills. One of the most memorable sites he visited was Shushtar in the Khuzestan province. In this region are to be found the largest rivers in Iran, flowing from the Zagros mountains to the Persian Gulf. On the river Karun is the ancient bridge of Valerian, said to have been built by Roman soldiers captured in battle by the Sassanid ruler Shapur I at the Battle of Edessa in 260 AD.
Getting our priorities in order With 286 collections in our archive, ranging from 1 to over 200 boxes in size, it is important for us
Here’s another round up of mills featured in the news over the past few weeks. As we mentioned in our previous blog, the impact of the