Filter posts by tag:
Stephen Buckland This is an abridged version of an unpublished typescript by Stephen Buckland (1935-2006) which is held in the Archive’s collections. You can read the full transcription here: https://catalogue.millsarchive.org/newgate-prison-mill-1752-unpublished. Newgate Prison The old Newgate Prison. From Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Old_Newgate.jpg The ancient prison of Newgate, near the present Old Bailey, was built originally in the 12th century…
A version of this article originally appeared as two posts on the Mills Archive blog in 2019.Mills have often played surprising and unexpected roles in world history. One example is the story of the part several English paper mills played in forging currency with the intent of undermining the French revolution. Assignats Assignats were a…
From Quern to Computer; a history of flour milling by Martin and Sue Watts covers a wide range of topics and Chapter 15 is the final chapter, written in 2016, reflecting on a challenging future for traditional mills. Wimbledon Common Windmill was converted to six small cottages in the 1860s (Postcard from the Mills Archive Collection, DONP-10985) The corn milling industry…
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 April-July 1985 he was given a sabbatical from his role as a teacher at Watford…
A few weeks ago we featured the history of the firm Holman Brothers of Canterbury in our newsletter. In this newsletter we will look in more detail at the employees of the firm, including their experiences in the First and Second World Wars. The Staff of Holmans Thomas Richard Holman and his employees, 1870s (Mills…
At the Mills Archive we have a wide range of interests covering a variety of subjects connected to mills and milling. Much of our collections relates to traditional wind and water powered mills and these have often been featured in this newsletter. However, we are equally interested in capturing the more recent history of flour…
A few weeks ago, we featured some of the writing of John Munnings (1916-1987) with his memories about growing up at Mendham Mill, Suffolk, where his father was the miller. This newsletter gives Munnings’ account of his grandfather, also called John Munnings and miller at Mendham Mill. John Munnings (1839-1914) Unfortunately, my grandfather died a…
The database of mills on our website contains more than 12,000 entries, and can be searched in a variety of ways. Read on to find out more.Searching the databaseYou can search the database here: https://new.millsarchive.org/mills/. The easiest way is to put the name of the mill you are looking for in the search bar at the top of…
This article first appeared on our blog in March 2019. Whilst recording the many histories of millers in our collections, I came across a very flowery yet fascinating obituary for a man named Alfred Jermy, “The Old Miller of Sidestrand and Poppyland” by Jessie Robinson, published in the Great Eastern Railway Magazine. Reading through the article,…
From Quern to Computer; a history of flour milling by Martin and Sue Watts covers a wide range of topics and Chapter 14 is particularly interesting. The importance of bread in the early medieval period is highlighted by the Old English words for lord (hlaford) and lady (hloefdige), meaning loaf keeper and loaf kneader respectively. Payments and rents were…
