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Spanish Windmills

Rex Wailes Some time in the 1950s or 60s, Rex Wailes visited Spain and toured the mills of La Mancha, famous for their appearance in Don Quixote. He wrote this account of his findings. Mills of La Mancha Don Quixote, from the cover of the Northwestern Miller, Janyary 7, 1925 At the same time the…

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Paine’s mills of St Neots

My family roots hail from Huntingdonshire and in particular St Neots which sits right on the boundary of old Bedfordshire and Huntingdonshire along the Great Ouse.  I descend from the families Paine and McNish.  The Paines had long been established in the area as farmers at Toseland Hall and were well known in the small…

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Funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund has made our project, Reading emPOWERed, a reality

The Mills Archive Trust has been awarded a grant of £198,751, made possible by the money raised by National Lottery Players. Wind and water power have the potential to address present and future climate needs. Over the next two years, The Mills Archive Trust will expand learning opportunities in our local area, Reading, Berkshire about the history of…

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The Twilight of the Mills

This article first appeared on our blog in August 2018.The sketch below was drawn by the eccentric and enigmatic Karl Wood, only two years before he was sent to prison: South Havra tower mill, 6 July 1949, Karl Wood (Mills Archive Collection, WOOD-M1307). This sketch is from the Karl Wood Collection: it forms part of a project…

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Unusual places to find a mill

This article first appeared on our blog in January 2018.  Boat Mill, 19th century (Mills Archive Collection, MCFC-ENG-064) If asked to name traditional mills, most people would probably name windmills, watermills, possibly tide mills, but less would name ‘floating mills’, also known as ‘boat mills’ or ‘ship mills’. These were structures that had the outside appearance…

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Form of an Appointment of an Agent of Millers

This week’s gem from the Owen Ward Collection gives a glimpse of the role mills would have played in an invasion of Britain by Napoleon. The French Revolution of 1789 plunged Europe into lengthy wars. The Treaty of Amiens of 1802 between Britain and the new French leader Napoleon Bonaparte led to a brief respite…

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Moroccan Mills 3 – The Mill in the Community

Michael Harverson Michael Harverson (1937-2017) was one of the founding trustees of the Mills Archives. A particular interest of his was the mills of the Middle East, and in his collection we have several accounts of his travels, illustrated with photographs. In 1985, Michael Harverson spent several months in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco, searching for watermills.…

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Toy Theatre

This week’s Gem is an unusual item from the Alan Stoyel Collection. It is a set of papers with images for the characters and scenes of a toy theatre play, “The Miller and his Men”. In the early 19th century the toy theatre was one of the most popular children’s toys. You could buy a…

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Heage Windmill has problems

Alan Gifford (Founder Trustee) Early illustration of Heage windmill with four sails, Unknown artist, 2005(scan of original from c 1890), Mills Archive Collection, SMDN-19211 Heage Windmill, near to Belper in Derbyshire, was built in c 1795 and worked until 1919. It was partially restored to present a good visual image by its owners, Derbyshire County Council, in…

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