“Dear Auntie, I escaped from Germany a few days ago and on crossing the frontier was told the very welcome news that an armistice was in force”. So begins the message on the back of this postcard of the smock windmill at Groenlo, in the province of Gelderland, eastern Netherlands on the German border. The…
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2018 Website Survey
Some of you may have had an email to tell you about this already, but if you’re not on our mailing list, consider this your official invitation to take part in the Mills Archive 2018 Website Survey! It’s a short, easy questionnaire which will only take about 5 minutes of your time. The Mills Archive…
Be a Mills Detective: May edition
Can you help us identify these archive photos of watermill sites? Unfortunately, many of these are left unidentified or misidentified for various reasons. We need some keen eyes to help us put names and locations to these mill sites. Last month we published a selection of unidentified Welsh mill photos for you to help us identify. Several…
Happy St Patrick’s Day: can you help us find out more about mills in Ireland?
As St Patrick’s Day gets underway, I thought I should share with you this article written by a recent Mills Archive volunteer. It shows some interesting glimpses – and beautiful images – of early medieval Irish watermills We do have some books on mills in Ireland and a few images on our online catalogue, but we…
Milling mystery solved
Thanks to everyone who got in touch about the mystery image we posted last week. It turns out to be an ‘old women mill’ or ‘old wives mill’ – an old joke about a place old women could go. When they passed between the mill stones they would come out looking young and attractive again!…
Sifting through flour milling history
What do you know about the history of flour milling? From Quern to Computer, our Heritage Lottery Fund supported project, focuses on how the stories of technological changes to flour milling and the development of our society are closely intertwined. We want to know what you think are the key developments of the flour milling. We are…
Image identified as Partney Watermill
Thank you to Guy Boocock, James Wheeler and Leo van der Drift all of whom got in touch to let us know that the mill featured in last week’s mystery postcard was in fact Partney Watermill, near Spilsby in Lincolnshire. The mill no longer exists, but you can see where it stood on this 1887 OS…
Village pumps anyone?
Author: Dick Williams Whitmore and Binyon may have made their local village pump in Wickham Market (image) – but there are serious doubts. There is nothing in the extensive archive recently catalogued by Chris Wheeler at the Mills Archive. Does anyone have any comment? My interest is village pumps, and I’ve been told that a…
Moving windmills
Author: Peter Clarke I am researching aspects of the life of the late Nevvar Hickmet who authored a pamphlet on moving windmills. Does anyone have any idea how I could get a copy of this, please – just for reference purposes? Nevvar had the distinction of being the first Cypriot to become a Chartered Accountant…
Mystery watermill
This image is a detail from a painting entitled ‘Fishing near the Mill, Sussex’ painted by Glendening in 1896. Can anyone identify the location and even confirm the mill was located in Sussex? Despite the title of the work it may prove to be a flour mill not in Sussex at all but elsewhere in…