Mills are most well-known for grinding corn into flour. Over the centuries mills powered by wind, water and other power sources have been used for many other types of industry. These series of newsletters will highlight a different use each month. You can find the full set here at https://new.millsarchive.org/2020/06/25/mills-make-the-world-go-round/. Colour mills A variety of mills and milling…
Mills have often featured in myth and legend. One ancient Norse poem, the Grottasongr or Lay of Grotti tells of a magical handmill, Grotti (literally ‘grinder’). So large that only the giants could turn it, the mill when ground could produce anything you wanted – wealth, peace, happiness. The mill belonged to a king of Denmark named Frothi (‘the…
In the Rex Wailes collection is a file of correspondence with John Bryant. Born 1861, Bryant was, in his own words, an “old type millwright”. During his career the old mills fell into disuse due to the advent of roller milling – In 1881 we had a fine Exhibition at the Agricultural Hall London and it…
This week is Volunteers’ Week, and to mark it we’d like to say a HUGE thank you to all our wonderful volunteers, who have stuck by us despite the pandemic. We have sorely missed their friendly faces in the office, not to mention all the help they offer in working through our collections and enriching our…
An interesting find in the Rex Wailes collection is a typescript by Douglas Reid (1881-1934) titled ‘With the windmillwrights in fen and marsh’. The typescript seems to have been sent by Reid to Wailes for possible publication, and contains handwritten notes by Wailes. It is Reid’s account, complete with photographs, of his adventures in the Fenland and…
Mary Gregson March marked about a year since my archive volunteer projects were put on hold due to the pandemic. I hadn’t been idle, I’d applied for and been accepted to do a master’s in Archives and Records Management, which was and still is keeping me busy, but I was restless. I am very grateful…
Noor One of our volunteers, Noor, has written about her experience at the Mills Archive: I am sure everyone has their own different experiences of being an archival volunteer. Today I am sharing some of my beautiful experience of working as an unexperienced volunteer at The Mills Archive Trust. Before I thought librarians and archivists…
The issue of The Miller dated 5 May 1930 contains this story about the ‘Devil’s Mill’ A miller’s apprentice loved a pretty peasant girl named Yvonne, but the young people concealed their deep affection from others, swore eternal fidelity and for a long time preserved their own secret. Meanwhile the ‘prentice laid plans for the…
An image found in Hindu temples shows a god and woman grinding together at a mill. This is the revered Hindu sant (holy person) called Janabai. Janabai was a low-caste maidservant and poet. There are various versions of her story, but according to one of these she was taken as a five-year-old child to the…
Here’s another round up of mills featured in the news over the past few weeks. Wheat field. Photo: Sue Watts As we mentioned in our previous blog, the impact of the pandemic on mills has been significant, with flour still in short supply and many smaller and traditional mills working overtime to meet demand. In spite of…
