The latest issue of our printed magazine ‘Mill Memories’ has just been published, on the theme of ‘Feeding the world’. This newsletter reproduces one of the articles. A digital copy of the whole magazine can be viewed here. |
‘Good Mother Earth’ – cover from the Northwestern Miller journal. |
“If thou tastest a crust of bread, thou tastest all the stars and all the heavens. Bread is the king of the table and all else is merely the court that surrounds the king.” Robert Browning “With bread all sorrows are less.” Sancho Panza speaking to Dapple, his ass in Don Quixote Archaeology has revealed to us that the earliest skull found possesses teeth exactly the same as ours today with many having been worn down as a result of eating hard grains. Barley and wheat were the most common in early times followed on by oats, millet and rye. The means of crushing the grain in prehistoric times was the quern stone, as illustrated here, and which is still in use to this day. |
19th century French cigarette card showing woman using hand mill. |
The bread or cake made from these early crushed grains was about an inch to an inch-and-a-half thick and four or five inches in diameter. The underside of these was sometimes flat, sometimes concave, and it appears that the mass of dough was baked by being laid on hot stones and covered over with glowing ashes. |
Traditional bread oven, from an advert in the Northwestern Miller. |
In the milling system of medieval times, people living on the landowner’s property had to have their grain ground at the Lord of the Manor’s mill; if they chose not to, or used a hand quern, they would be fined. In Paris, at one time monks controlled the bakeries and had the monopoly of the public ovens where housewives brought their dough to be baked. No baking or milling was allowed on Sundays and special days. The qualification for a master baker to graduate was five years as an apprentice and four more as a journeyman. |
The first bolter used by bakers. |
Grain was sown, reaped, threshed, and then winnowed by hand. Many traditional mills today have a winnower, either for use or just for display; this could be operated by hand or by other means. Some bakers in the past also had a bolting machine on their premises to separate the flour (see image above), or even a separate bolting shop. Wind and watermills also installed a small grain cleaner which worked off the mill machinery, and some post mills had an extension either at the back or side of the mill, sometimes referred to as panniers. |
Advert for a universal bolter, from the Northwestern Miller. |
Some tower mills had a bread oven in the ground floor wall, e.g. Marsh Mill, Lancashire, and at Ullesthorpe windmill in Leicestershire there is still an old bakehouse. Today, some traditional mills have their own bakery alongside the mill for baking bread from their flour; these include Redbournbury in Herts (shown below), Otterton in Devon, Talgarth Mill in the Brecon Beacons and Blair Atholl in Scotland. “Good bread is the most fundamentally satisfying of all foods.” James Beard |
Bread oven at Redbournbury Mill. |
If you would like to recieve print copies of ‘Mill Memories’, you can do so by becoming a ‘Friend of the Mills Archive Trust’ on our website. |
Also in the latest issue of Mill Memories: |
Food and Energy Sustainability |
Interns Poppy and Katie delve into our strategic theme of “Feeding the World,” exploring genetic modification, bread waste and small milling businesses in the UK, USA and southern Africa. |
The Millers’ Mutual Association Collection |
Nathanael describes the work we have carried out on the collection of records from the Millers’ Mutual Association and UK Flour Millers, two of the most significant institutions in the history of milling in the UK. |
The ‘Milling’ Journal and the Challenges of Feeding the World |
Liz looks at the themes explored in the pages of the journal ‘Milling’. Beginning in 1891, the journal provided national and international updates for the milling industry. The 1940s issues reveal glimpses of the unprecedented challenges which the industry faced during wartime. |
Conserving and Cultivating a Craft |
The craft of millwrighting has been classified as endangered on the Heritage Craft Association RED list. Nathan discusses our efforts to preserve the records and knowledge of millwrights so that we can provide resources to the millwrights of the future. |
You can read the whole issue here |