Dave Pearce Wicken Windmill Partnership Mike Newland died aged 86 on 15th February. He was a kind, private man, with no time…
Mike Newland:a millwrighting obituary
Author: Mills Archive
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John Torr Foulds 1742-1815 – millwright and engineer at the London Bridge Waterworks
Dr James G. Moher A 1795 engraving of Old London Bridge with the waterworks wheels at the northern end visible against the background of St Magnus the Martyr’s church and the Monument Many are familiar with this historic but long-gone structure, which forded the mighty river Thames, but how many know that it had a…
Robert Stone, miller of Pangbourne
Elizabeth Trout The diaries of Robert Stone give us a rare and fascinating glimpse into the day-to-day working patterns and activities of a Victorian country miller.Robert Stone was baptised on 28 February 1852 in High Wycombe, the son of Alfred Stone, Master Chairmaker and his wife Ann nee Atkins. Robert went to the National School…
Women in Milling: an interactive exhibition
Elizabeth Bartram (Director) & Mildred Cookson (Founding Trustee) The story of flour milling is as ancient as civilisation itself, and the story of women in milling has just as long a past.The UK Flour Millers and the Mills Archive Trust have joined forces to explore and celebrate the vital contributions that women have made to…
Women in milling
Elizabeth Bartram (Director) & Mildred Cookson (Founding Trustee) Milling has a rich and immersive history. Women have always been involved in some aspect of milling, those roles and their level of involvement have reflected wider society’s views on women, work and gender roles. The detail (or even existence) of records documenting their roles has been…
Milling & millwrighting in Cambridgeshire in the 2020’s – Wicken Windmill & the Millwrights
By Dave Pearce Wicken Windmill Partnership The mill has been restored by the Wicken Windmill Partnership, acting as millwrights, and its friends and…
Merry Christmas!
Christmas is almost upon us, so we thought we would share some recipes for “Christmas cheer” from 1945.The Wine and Food Society published a series of books under the title, A Concise Encyclopaedia of Gastronomy. The fourth in the series, Cereals, contains some recipes for Christmas fare that must have presented a challenge to home bakers struggling…
The John Bedington Collection arrives at the Mills Archive
By John Bedington The gears at Worston Mill, WorstonWorston Mill, Worston – main gears – Images and documents (millsarchive.org) As a youngster between 1963 and about 1972 I spent a lot of time pedalling around Staffordshire visiting watermills and a few remains of windmills, taking often rather indifferent photos and making extremely scribbly but often…
John Rennie and the Albion Mills (1784-91)
Jim Moher Those who have heard of the famous Scottish engineer, John Rennie (1761-1821), will probably remember him for his civil engineering achievements at the turn of the nineteenth century, such as the building of new London and Waterloo bridges. In fact, like many engineers of those days, Rennie also made considerable contributions to the…
Sugar and slavery
Sugar & Slavery: Reproductive Mills is a new Mills Archive digital exhibition, launched in October 2021. It is the first of a series of online exhibitions. This exhibition sheds light on the links between technological developments in sugar milling and enslaved women’s reproductive systems, especially in the early nineteenth-century before the abolition of slavery. The exhibition…