Oh What a Beautiful Morning!

Patricia Lesley

Post Mills are it, especially, in sunshine. I rambled around inside, and out taking pics, and making notes, whilst listening to the owner's commentary. Bought a bag of flour ( probably, MacDougal's! ). Now I feel part of a historic era, and 2015 seems weird.

Phots Moll

Have you just visited a flour mill? I went to one earlier in the year on the way to something else (water not post) and found it a lot more interesting than I'd expected.

Baggy Books

We have one in Stur - and sell the flour in the museum's shop.

Carol

I visited a water mill in York a long time ago, and a windmill on the Isle of Wight- no flour from the latter, but there was from the former.

Patricia Lesley

I went to the Stanton Post Mill, at Mill Farm. Linda and her husband who are the owners mill the flour. The weatherborded mill is much bigger than their house, and oh so picturesque! Socking great main post and old, wooden ladders. Before the fan tail was invented the miller had to turn the buck by means of a beam, manually, into the wind. ( He would have been a muscle bound pud ).
An economy that was dependent on the wind must have been a challenge though. Linda said, that the old miller used to get up in the night to work, and was often paid in kind.
P.S. There's a, beautifully, restored water mill at Thorrington, near Colchester, Essex Phots Moll.

Baggy Books

Stunning!

http://stantonwindmill.onesuffolk.net/

Wordy

I've visited quite a lot of mills both wind and water powered. At one windmill in Lincolnshire that still milled flour we commented on the possible lack of wind and we were told you only need a speed of 15mph to be able to mill and that in a very strong wind it wasn't possible to mill due to the possibility of the mill catching fire. Worth looking out for Mill weekends in May (second Sunday) if you are interested as some not normally open to the public also open, including a number under restoration which means you can see the structures more clearly. I've gathered quite a collection of flour bags from all the mills visited that produce flour. Recently went to stainsby Mill, part of the Hardwick Hall estate in Derbyshire and also run by NT, and the talk there was one of the best we have heard.

Phots Moll

It was the Stainsby Mill we went to. We were on our way to Hardwick Hall and passed it so thought we might as well take a quick look.

The man giving the talk was really interesting. So much so the Hall was closed when we got there! (we did get to see the gardens and old hall though)

Patricia Lesley

Apparently, flour explodes on contact with heat. A tide mill would, probably, have been the easiest to manage, and the most profitable providing there were enough customers.
According to sources, all parishes had a mill or mills. So they must have been viable, as well as the inspiration behind songs, and fairy tales.

Wordy

Tide mills would not have been much fun when the tide turned in the middle of the night. As I understand it they only worked on the ebbing tide and for around five hours each tide - whenever that happened to occur. A watermill has a steady constant flow. Mills were indeed an essential part of any community as you say Patricia, often more than one in a community.

datco2014

They need to stop building all these wind farms - it's windy enough!

Patricia Lesley

"The white and wading water mill," at Halstead added, significance to the Courtauld account I believe, but what happened, when the millstream dried up during a long, hot, summer or flooded during the winter? They were out of spuds!
Interesting setting for a hist. nov.