| This newsletter is reproduced from the latest issue of our biannual magazine, Mill Memories. You can view a PDF of the whole issue here. |
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| Engraving from frontispiece of Dutch millwrighting book. |
| The Mills Archive contains a wealth of knowledge on millwrighting, particularly in our library. The millwrighting books in our collection showcase the many varied aspects of the craft and date from the early 1700s up to the present. In his 1878 book Treatise on Mills and Millwork, Sir William Fairbairn described the character and skills of the traditional millwright: The millwright of former days was to a great extent the sole representative of mechanical art and was looked upon as the authority in all the applications of wind and water, under whatever conditions they were to be used, as a motive power for the purposes of manufacture. He was the engineer of the district in which he lived, a kind of jack of all trades, who could with equal facility work at the lathe, anvil or carpenters’ bench. In country districts, far removed from towns, he had to exercise all these professions, and he thus gained the character of an ingenious, roving, rollicking blade, able to turn his hand to anything, and like the wandering tribes in days of old, went about the country from mill to mill with the old song of ‘kettles to mend.’ |
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| Thus, the millwright was an itinerant engineer and mechanic of high reputation, who could handle the axe, the hammer, and the plane with equal skill and precision. By the time Fairbairn wrote these words, this traditional breed of millwright was already disappearing. The development of new technologies led to a changing role for the millwright, evolving over the course of the 19th century into that of the engineer. But many of the same skills were still important. In 1909 James F Hobart described the requirements for contemporary millwrights in his book Millwrighting: The millwright must be a worker. There is no room for drones in this branch of mechanical industry. The millwright must also be a student. He has much to learn and no longer has to acquire it all by word of mouth. He should be able to calculate strains and strengths of materials and the resultant of forces. As a draftsman to make and read drawings, understand the work in wood and metal, be a first-class carpenter. |
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| Clockwise from top left: Mildred with one of the Dutch millwrighting books; title page of the Groot Volkomen Moolenboek; detail from drawing in one of the moolenboeks; large and small millwright’s books. |
| The many craft skills required of a millwright would traditionally have been learned over the course of his apprenticeship. As Hobart indicates, millwrighting books in time became an additional invaluable resource. The earliest millwrighting books in our collection are large Dutch mill books from the early 1700s which are full of drawings of Dutch windmills. The Theatrum Machinarum Universale of Groot Algemeen Moolen-Boek, which translates as the ‘Universal Theatre of Machines or Great General Mill Book’ was produced by Johannis van Zyl and Jan Schenk in 1734 (republished 1761). It features drawings of drainage and saw mills as well as modder, or mud, mills, used to de-sludge ditches and ponds. |
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| In the same year another similar text appeared on the market, the Groot Volkomen Moolenboek, which translates to the ‘Great Complete Mill Book’. This was produced by Leendert van Natrus, Jacob Polly and Cornelius van Vuuren, and featured diagrams of oil, tobacco and fulling mills. The drawings in these works were based on real mills that the authors had measured or in some cases helped rebuild (e.g. one of the sawmills in Van Zyl’s volume) and include all the details a millwright would need in order to build a working mill. Where these volumes concentrate on windmills, our UK and American volumes cover both wind and watermills, dealing with topics such as gearing and millstone dressing. Later works tackle the new developments in roller flour milling. One of the most popular was the 1889 work by Voller, who was persuaded to write up his lectures by his students. Today’s millwrights have the advantage of newer tools along with cranes and scaffolding, but knowledge and expertise are just as necessary as ever. By preserving these books in our library the history and traditions of this craft are safeguarded for the future. |
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| Read the rest of the latest Mill Memories here. |
