Everybody knows about the dangers of eating wild plants, and even experienced nature-lovers have to be careful when picking woodland mushrooms, berries or flowers for a foraged feast. I know from personal experience that eating a funny mushroom is absolutely not funny at all! These days we like to stick to good old reliable Tesco…
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Why I chose the Mills Archive Trust to start my voluntary work
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 Devil’s Mill
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…
Milling in 19th century Norway
While sat in a meeting in our Founders’ Room, my eyes travelled across the spines of the antiquarian books visible from my seat, and I couldn’t help but notice a small, gold-decorated book covered in tan-coloured leather. The name of the book was too small for me to read from a distance. After the meeting…
The story of Sant Janabai
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…
More mills in the news
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…
A tree swallows a mill
An article in “The Miller” dating from 1900 tells this wonderful story of the mill-swallowing tree. “The annexed cut, which is reproduced from the Strand Magazine, shows a tree in the act of swallowing a corn mill. Fifteen years ago, in Natal, South Africa, a hand corn mill was attached to a post some 6…
The man in the brown paper boat: An epic voyage down the Thames
Sailing down the Thames in a brown paper boat is a rather unusual idea to say the least. One that many people would never imagine doing, but apparently someone did just that in 1620. The person in question was John Taylor, author of “one of the earliest and most enthusiastic” texts in English, on the…
Smugglers’ Mills and Nefarious Thrills
Throughout the ages, the role of the miller has been subject to all sorts of stories and stereotypes: millers have been slandered, satirised, respected and romanticised all in equal measure. Langstone Mill, Havant. Photo: Ashok Vaidya Oft-times in literature, the miller has been the recipient of a similar treatment to smugglers and pirates, his contemporary…
Bored? Why not take a look at our images and documents
If you’re stuck with nothing to do, try having a look through our Archive Catalogue, and help us improve our data. Our Archive Catalogue can be found here. It contains 84,554 entries relating to mills and milling, including 70,382 photographs and 2,078 text documents. There are various ways to search the catalogue. From the search bars…