Publication:

Why are so few Domesday mills recorded in Cornwall and Devon? A new thesis

    Full details

    Authors & editors

    Keith, Simon [Author]

    Publisher The Mills Archive Trust
    Year of publication 2018
    Languages

    Medium Website
    Edition1
    Topics

    Wind & watermills > England > Devon
    Wind & watermills > England > Cornwall

    Tags

    Scope & contentIt has been frequently noted by those analysing the 1086 Domesday survey that there are fewer watermills recorded in Cornwall and Devon than might be expected when compared with other counties. This paper puts forward a reason why this is so. It is suggested;

    firstly, that mills were needed in both Cornwall and Devon in the 11th century, and that both counties were probably as well served then with mills in 1086 as were other counties,
    secondly, that many of the mills in the eleventh century in Devon, and all but six of them in Cornwall, were salt water tide-mills rather than fresh-water river mills, and
    thirdly the Domesday survey did not record tide-mills in those counties and very rarely, if at all, listed them in other counties either.
    Web URL https://new.millsarchive.org/2018/01/16/why-are-so-few-domesday-mills-recorded-in-cornwall-and-devon-a-new-thesis/