Mills

 

In 1086, there were more than 5,000 water-mills in England. A water-mill used the village stream to turn a great wooden wheel. This turned the stone that milled the flour. But water-mills could do more than grind corn. They were used by cloth-makers and iron-workers. Water power even helped to make paper.

 

The first windmills were built in England just before the year 1200. A windmill was useful if there was no stream to drive a water-wheel. It worked only if the sails faced the wind, but the wind does not always blow from the same direction.

 

Technology's answer was a windmill that moved to face the wind. The whole mill turned to and fro on a huge wooden post fixed into the ground. That is why they were called 'post-mills'. Unlike water-mills, windmills were only used for grinding corn.

 

Walter Robson: Medieval Britain; Oxford University Press, 1991/2000, page 76