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…
In our digital world, it is easy to forget the debt we owe to photography. Records of our 19th and 20th century milling heritage are enriched by photographs of historic mills. Rex Wailes demonstrated that the person behind the camera was equally important. Not only was he an engineer interested in mills, he was keen…
Last month I mentioned that in 2017 the Mills Archive played a vital part in the rescue of an important archive destined for destruction. The important architectural practice of Gelder and Kitchen had recently been liquidated and their large collection of files at Maister House, a National Trust property in Hull, was under severe threat.Alfred…
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/. Bone mills Bone mills were designed to crush…
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…
Rex Wailes, like his father, was first and foremost an engineer, but soon became the authority on wind and watermills. As an engineer he was also interested in industrial sites, such as foundries, brickworks and waterworks. One of my other interest is breweries, so I was delighted to see that he had spent some time…
One of our first visitors to the Archive, as we carefully start to welcome researchers back, expressed great interest in our valuable collection of the Hull-based architects, Gelder and Kitchen. Five years ago the firm had gone into liquidation and we rescued several hundred files from the basement of their practice in a 17th century…
We are delighted to announce that the Swire Charitable Trust has made a substantial grant of £23,289 to the Mills Archive Trust, specifically to help us preserve and promote our millwrighting records, such as those contained in the Vincent Pargeter Collection. We have hundreds of important drawings and texts by millwrights that are just waiting…
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…
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. The application of animal and water power: From the Mediterranean to Britain The earliest milling tools were worked by human effort, using specially selected stones or…