The uniqueness of millwrighting is also one of its greatest challenges. Once the preserve of carpenters and timbers, innovations were already taking hold in medieval mills. More intricate gearing and camshafts produced reciprocal motion, driving the hammers of forges, saws and the fulling of cloth. Over the centuries, stone and brick became more prominent to resist the elements. Eighteenth-century engineering advances included the governor, for adjusting the tentering of millstones, and fantails to move mills to the wind. Maintaining these layers of intricacy required not just the carpenter, but the mason, the bricklayer, the blacksmith, the engineer and more.
A prospective millwright must be multitalented or ready to learn. In the census of 1851, there were 10,000 millwrights to pass on this knowledge. However, the greater output of the roller mill by the later nineteenth century eclipsed the traditional miller and millwright. Now there are only 13 millwrights on the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings Millwright Directory.
While classified as endangered on the Heritage Craft Association (HCA) RED list, the picture for millwrighting could have been much worse. Millwrights and mill experts, such as the engineer Rex Wailes, campaigned to restore the mills. He was one of the founders of the SPAB Windmill Section, which added watermills to become the combined Mills Section in 1946. Having funded mill repairs through appeals, SPAB Millwrighting Fellowships provide further support to trainee millwrights. At the same time, the Mills Archive protects the knowledge held in the records of former millwrights, to preserve the trade.
We must combine the theory in our archive with the practice and provide resources and knowledge to volunteer mill groups who are able to perform repairs. Wicken Windmill Partnership is the perfect example. Having bought the derelict site in 1987, they have restored it to full working order – see our research publication on the project.
Secondly, we must capture the knowledge of recent millwrights. Millwright Tim Whiting was trained by one of the most renowned millwrights of the twentieth century, Vincent Pargeter. Fortunately, we have Vincent’s collection along with many others, like the records of the historic building specialists, Owlsworth IJP—a Heritage Partner who support the Archive. To save the craft we must record the knowledge of current millwrights in logbooks, guides, research publications, videos and more.
Thirdly, we must centralise links to resources outside the Archive. Millwrighting records are scattered across the country in regional archives, such as the Hunt family millwrighting records in Cambridgeshire. The locations of all these invaluable repositories must be made available if we are to preserve the regional designs of mills.
From our discussions, we see that we are ideally placed to provide a hub of millwrighting knowledge—one that can provide resources to aspiring and professional craftsmen. It will also serve to better promote the efforts of millwrights and mill groups in preserving the trade that has shaped the modern world. If you would like to learn more about these efforts and the history of milling, you can join our e-newsletter. If you have any questions or have knowledge to share, contact us.
