A mill pond (or millpond) is a body of water used as a reservoir for a water-powered mill. [1] [2]
A mill pond (or millpond) is a body of water used as a reservoir for a water-powered mill. [1] [2]
Mill ponds were often created through the construction of a mill dam or weir (and mill stream) across a waterway.
In many places, the common proper name Mill Pond has remained even though the mill has long since gone. It may be fed by a man-made stream, [3] known by several terms including leat and mill stream. The channel or stream leading from the mill pond is the mill race, which together with weirs, dams, channels and the terrain establishing the mill pond, delivers water to the mill wheel to convert potential and/or kinetic energy of the water to mechanical energy by rotating the mill wheel. The production of mechanical power is the purpose of this civil engineering hydraulic system.
The term mill pond is often used colloquially and in literature to refer to a very flat body of water. [2] Witnesses of the loss of RMS Titanic reported that the sea was "like a mill pond". [2] [4]
mill·pond [mil-pond] noun 1. a pond for supplying water to drive a mill wheel. Origin: 1640–50; mill1 + pond
millpond (ˈmɪlˌpɒnd)— n 1. a pool formed by damming a stream to provide water to turn a millwheel 2. any expanse of calm water: the sea was a millpond
leat (liːt) — n ( Brit ) 1. a trench or ditch that conveys water to a mill wheel [Old English -gelǣt (as in wætergelǣt water channel), from let 1 ]
A leat is the name, common in the south and west of England and in Wales, for an artificial watercourse or aqueduct dug into the ground, especially one supplying water to a watermill or its mill pond. Other common uses for leats include delivery of water for hydraulic mining and mineral concentration, for irrigation, to serve a dye works or other industrial plant, and provision of drinking water to a farm or household or as a catchment cut-off to improve the yield of a reservoir.
A weir or low-head dam is a barrier across the width of a river that alters the flow characteristics of water and usually results in a change in the height of the river level. Weirs are also used to control the flow of water for outlets of lakes, ponds, and reservoirs. There are many weir designs, but commonly water flows freely over the top of the weir crest before cascading down to a lower level. There is no single definition as to what constitutes a weir.
The River Otter is a river that rises in the Blackdown Hills just inside the county of Somerset, England near Otterford, then flows south through East Devon. It enters the English Channel at the western end of Lyme Bay, part of the Jurassic Coast, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Permian and Triassic sandstone aquifer in the Otter Valley is one of Devon's largest groundwater sources, supplying drinking water to 200,000 people.
The Moss is a brook in North East Derbyshire, England.
The River Poulter which rises near Scarcliffe in Derbyshire, England is a tributary river of the River Idle in Nottinghamshire. It supplied power to mills along its route, most of which are now gone, although their mill ponds remain. Cuckney mill building is used as a primary school. The river has been dammed to create several lakes in the Dukeries estates of Welbeck Abbey and Clumber House now the National Trust property of Clumber Park. The ornamental Gouldsmeadow Lake, Shrubbery Lake and Great Lake on the Welbeck estate are supplied by a tributary of the Poulter, while Carburton Forge Dam and Carburton Dam were built to power a forge and a mill. Clumber Lake, consisting of an upper and lower lake, which is spanned by a Grade II* listed ornamental bridge, is part of the Clumber estate, and has suffered from subsidence.
The River Loxley is a river in the City of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. Its source is a series of streams which rise some 10 miles (16 km) to the north-west of Sheffield on Bradfield Moors, flowing through Bradfield Dale to converge at Low Bradfield. It flows easterly through Damflask Reservoir and is joined by Storrs Brook at Storrs, near Stannington, and the River Rivelin at Malin Bridge, before flowing into the River Don at Owlerton, in Hillsborough. The Loxley valley provided the initial course of the Great Sheffield Flood, which happened after the Dale Dyke Dam collapsed shortly before its completion in March 1864.
A flume is a human-made channel for water, in the form of an open declined gravity chute whose walls are raised above the surrounding terrain, in contrast to a trench or ditch. Flumes are not to be confused with aqueducts, which are built to transport water; flumes use flowing water to transport materials. Flumes route water from a diversion dam or weir to a desired materiel collection location. Flumes are usually made up of wood, metal or concrete.
The River Kent is a short river in the county of Cumbria in England. It originates in hills surrounding Kentmere, and flows for around 20 miles (32 km) into the north of Morecambe Bay. The upper reaches and the western bank of the estuary are located within the boundaries of the Lake District National Park. The river flows in a generally north to south direction, passing through Kentmere, Staveley, Burneside, Kendal and Sedgwick. Near Sedgwick, the river passes through a rock gorge which produces a number of low waterfalls. This section is popular with kayakers as it offers high quality whitewater for several days after rain. The village of Arnside is situated on the east bank of the Kent estuary, just above Morecambe Bay, and a tidal bore known as the Arnside Bore forms in the estuary at this point on high spring tides.
A penstock is a sluice or gate or intake structure that controls water flow, or an enclosed pipe that delivers water to hydro turbines and sewerage systems. The term is of Scots origin, and was inherited from the earlier technology of mill ponds and watermills, with penstocks diverting pond waters to drive the mills.
The Satucket River is 5.5-mile-long (8.9 km) river in southeastern Massachusetts within the Taunton River Watershed. It flows generally west from Robbins Pond in East Bridgewater, and into the Matfield River.
A mill race, millrace or millrun, mill lade (Scotland) or mill leat is the current of water that turns a water wheel, or the channel (sluice) conducting water to or from a water wheel. Compared with the broad waters of a mill pond, the narrow current is swift and powerful. The race leading to the water wheel on a wide stream or mill pond is called the head race, and the race leading away from the wheel is called the tail race.
The Old Hay Brook is a small river in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. It is formed from the Redcar Brook, Blacka Dike and another stream, which rise on moors to the south of Sheffield, and is joined by Needham's Dyke near Totley Grange. At Totley Rise it joins Totley Brook, to become the River Sheaf. Water from the river was used to power mills processing lead, corn and paper from at least the 17th century, which were later used for grinding scythes as the Sheffield metal industry expanded. All the mills were defunct by 1900, although some remnants including weirs and dams are still visible.
Stainton Beck is a watercourse in Cumbria, England. Its upper reaches are known as St. Sunday's Beck.
A mill dam or milldam (US) is a dam constructed on a waterway to create a mill pond.
Pidcock's Canal was a canal in Gloucestershire, England, which connected ironworks at Upper Forge and Lower Forge, and also ran to an inlet from the River Severn called Lydney Pill. It was constructed from 1778 onwards, and there were three locks below Middle Forge. Following the construction of the Lydney Canal in 1813, the canal connected to that, rather than Lydney Pill, and it was disused after 1840, by which time a horse-drawn tramway had been built up the valley of The Lyd. The tramway was eventually relaid as a steam railway and is now preserved as the Dean Forest Railway. Most of the canal, colloquially called The Cut, still exists below Middle Forge.
The River Gavenny or sometimes the Gavenny River is a short river in Monmouthshire in south Wales. It rises 1 mile (1.6 km) southwest of the village of Llanvihangel Crucorney from springs near Penyclawdd Court, supplemented by springs in Blaen-Gavenny Wood and tributary streams there and within the Woodland Trust-owned Great Triley Wood. It flows south for about 4 miles (6.4 km) to its confluence with the River Usk towards the eastern end of Castle Meadows at Abergavenny. The town derives its English-language name from the Gavenny's confluence with the River Usk. Of the buildings on the banks of the river, the Gothic Decorated style church of St Teilo at Llantilio Pertholey is especially notable. Parts of the church date from the thirteenth century with multiple additions since. Blaengavenny Farm, the name of which signifies the 'head of the Gavenny', is a sixteenth-century farmhouse near the river's source.
The Collins English Dictionary is a printed and online dictionary of English. It is published by HarperCollins in Glasgow. It was first published in 1979.
The Land Yeo is a small river which flows through North Somerset, England. It rises on Dundry Hill and supplies Barrow Gurney Reservoirs before flowing through various villages to Clevedon where it drains into the Severn Estuary. During the past 1,000 years it has powered at least ten watermills; however, only one is still functional. Since 2003 initiatives have been undertaken to clean up the river, improving water quality and encouraging wildlife.
Kirk Mill is an early example of an Arkwright-type cotton mill and a grade II listed building in Chipping, Lancashire. Built in the 1780s on the site of a corn mill dating back to at least 1544, it operated as a cotton mill with water frames and then throstles until 1886 when it was sold and repurposed as H.J. Berry's chairmaking factory, powered by a 32 ft (9.8 m) waterwheel, which continued in use, generating electricity until the 1940s.
Mellor Mill, also known as Bottom's Mill, was a six-story cotton mill in Marple, Greater Manchester built by Samuel Oldknow in 1793. This was a six-storey, 42-foot (13 m) wide and 210-foot (64 m) long mill with additional three-storey wings making it 400 feet (120 m) in all. The mill was built for Samuel Oldknow and used to spin coarse counts. It was originally driven by the Wellington water wheel. The River Goyt, and with it the then county boundary between Derbyshire and Cheshire was diverted and a weir built, the leat fed a millpond that in later times was named the Roman Lakes. This in turn fed a second mill pond along with water from reservoir in Linnet Clough. Supplementary power was provided by a second exterior wheel known as the Waterloo wheel. The Mill reached its peak production in 1804, when 10,080 spindles were operating and around 550 people were employed. It was destroyed by fire in 1892.
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