Millstone making in England

Abstract

Since the author's paper 'Millstones, Quarries and Millstone Makers' published in 1977 a good deal of interest has been taken in the subject, and much further information has come to light. The present paper is therefore an updating of the previous one as far as England is concerned, and tries to avoid any extensive repetition of information and ideas given there. It also avoids discussion of millstone making in the Peak District of Derbyshire since that very special area was dealt with in some detail in a recent paper in this journal. A general account is first given of the development of the millstone industry, particularly during the last two or three centuries, and its division into two distinct parts: (1) the making of monolithic millstones from indigenous rock in rural quarries and quarry workshops, and (2) the fabrication of millstones from imported small pieces of French burr-stone in urban factories. The import and export trades associated with these activities, and the cost of millstones, are discussed. Augmented data on English quarries which made monolithic millstones (outside the Peak District of Derbyshire) is presented, and it is found that none of these quarries are in the south of England. Finally, data on the many firms of urban millstone makers is given and discussed where that previously published can be significantly augmented, and it is mainly for the north of England that this is the case. (There was millstone making of both kinds in Scotland too, but this has been separately discussed. Further work on millstone making in Wales is in hand under the auspices of Mr Owen Ward and the Welsh Mills Group.)