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Feeding the World. Windmills and watermills: Preservation and restoration  

From Quern to Computer; a history of flour milling by Martin and Sue Watts covers a wide range of topics and  Chapter 15 is the final chapter, written in 2016, reflecting on a challenging future for traditional mills. Wimbledon Common Windmill was converted to six small cottages in the 1860s (Postcard from the Mills Archive Collection, DONP-10985) The corn milling industry…

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Feeding the World. Cereal products: The early medieval period, c.AD500 to the present day  

From Quern to Computer; a history of flour milling by Martin and Sue Watts covers a wide range of topics and  Chapter 14 is particularly interesting. The importance of bread in the early medieval period is highlighted by the Old English words for lord (hlaford) and lady (hloefdige), meaning loaf keeper and loaf kneader respectively.  Payments and rents were…

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Post-medieval mills and milling, 1540-1750

From Quern to Computer; a history of flour milling by Martin and Sue Watts covers a wide range of topics and this summarises Chapter 8.  This period to the mid-18th century saw significant developments in the technology of corn milling, changes in land ownership and a rise in population as standards of living improved. The treble mill…

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Feeding the World: Animal and water power

From Quern to Computer; a history of flour milling by Martin and Sue Watts covers a wide range of topics and this series of emails will summarise each one separately.   It is clear that by the time of the Norman Conquest mills were regarded as important manorial assets.  No manor was properly equipped unless it had…

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