Mills Archive

Last updated
The Mills Archive Trust
Formation2002
TypeArchive
Legal statusRegistered Charity
PurposeThe preservation of documents related to milling heritage
Headquarters44 Watlington St, Reading RG1 4RJ
Region served
Global with an emphasis on the United Kingdom
Chairman
Dr Ron Cookson MBE
Staff
5
Volunteers
20
Website https://millsarchive.org/

The Mills Archive was established in 2002 to preserve and protect records of milling heritage and to make them freely available to the public. It is governed by the Mills Archive Trust, which is a charity that is based at Watlington House, Reading, Berkshire, England.

Contents

History

The Mills Archive Trust was established in 2002. [1] [2] A grant of £50,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund enabled the Archive to launch its internet catalogue in 2003. [1] Other early supporters of the trust included the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB), [3] and the Hampshire Mills Group, which donated £200. [1]

The Archive was set up in response to an expressed need to preserve and where possible integrate the various threatened sources of information on the windmills and watermills of the UK and the rest of the world. It was hoped to prevent material being lost on the death of a molinologist by creating a suitable repository. [4]

In 2012, the Chairman Dr Ron Cookson was awarded an MBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours for Services to Heritage. [5]

Originally a charitable trust (Reg no 1091534), the trust became a foundation-style charitable incorporated organisation (Reg no 1155828) in February 2014. In November 2016 the Archive was awarded the status of a Nationally Accredited Archive Service.

Archive-accred-weblogo.jpg

Aims

The Archive aims to focus on (but not be totally restricted to) traditional mills and milling, and seeks to acquire relevant historical and contemporary documentary and illustrative material and small artefacts. The main initial priority is records relating to UK mills, millers and millwrights, chiefly during the 18th–21st centuries, but the Archive plans to extend its coverage worldwide.

"Traditional mills" include mills, similar structures and industrial processes that are or were powered by wind, water, muscle or other power sources, but not the massive modern industrial mills used for steel production and similar large-scale industrial enterprises. "Milling" includes millwrighting and the place of the mill in social and economic as well as technological and architectural history.

Collections and services

The Mills Archive was originally set up to care for four historically important Foundation Collections: those belonging to the SPAB, Mildred Cookson, Ken Major and Alan Stoyel. Since its establishment it has been given more than 250 further collections, both large and small.

The Archive currently holds more than 3,000,000 items, most of which can be freely inspected by appointment at the Research Centre at Watlington House. Its catalogue is free to use, contains some 80,000 records and is rapidly expanding. The Archive also maintains a library containing more than 3,000 books on mills, in various languages. Most have been added to the online library catalogue. Apart from its wide use as a source of information about mills and their machinery in archival documents, books and journals, [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] the Mills Archive has become a focus for family history researchers. [14] [15]

More information can be found on the Archive's main website.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stocks Mill, Wittersham</span>

Stocks Mill is a Grade II* listed post mill in Wittersham on the Isle of Oxney, in Kent, England which has been preserved.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maud Foster Windmill</span> Grade I listed windmill in Lincolnshire, England

Maud Foster Windmill is a seven-storey, five sail windmill located by the Maud Foster Drain in Skirbeck, Boston, Lincolnshire, from which she is named. She is one of the largest operating windmills in England being 80 feet (24.38 m) tall to the cap ball.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tower mill</span> Type of vertical windmill

A tower mill is a type of vertical windmill consisting of a brick or stone tower, on which sits a wooden 'cap' or roof, which can rotate to bring the sails into the wind.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">King's Mill, Shipley</span> Windmill in West Sussex, England

King's Mill or Vincent's Mill, Shipley, West Sussex, England, is a smock mill built in 1879.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Denver Windmill</span> Tower mill in Denver, Norfolk, England

Denver Windmill is a Grade II* listed tower mill at Denver, Norfolk, England. In March 2010, there were about 374,000 list entries of which 5.5% were Grade II* and even fewer were superior.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Burnham Overy Staithe Windmill</span>

Burnham Overy Staithe Windmill is a Grade II* listed building tower mill at Burnham Overy Staithe, Norfolk, England which has been converted to holiday accommodation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cley Windmill</span>

Cley Windmill is a Grade II* listed tower mill at Cley next the Sea, Norfolk, England which has been converted to residential accommodation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Union Mill, Cranbrook</span> Grade I listed smock mill in Cranbrook, Kent, England

Union Mill is a Grade I listed smock mill in Cranbrook, Kent, England, which has been restored to working order. It is the tallest smock mill in the United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Herne Windmill</span> Listed building in Kent, England

Herne Windmill is a Grade I listed smock mill in Herne, Kent, England, that was built in 1789.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">West Kingsdown Windmill</span>

West Kingsdown Windmill is a Grade II listed smock mill in West Kingsdown, Kent, England, that was built in the early nineteenth century at Farningham and moved to West Kingsdown in 1880. It is the survivor of a pair of windmills.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Draper's Mill, Margate</span>

Draper's Windmill or Old Mill is a Grade II listed Smock mill in Margate, Kent, England that was built in 1845.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ashby's Mill</span> Brixton Windmill

Ashby's Mill, often referred to as Brixton Windmill, is a restored grade II* listed tower mill at Brixton in the London Borough of Lambeth. The mill was in Surrey when built and has been preserved.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crux Easton wind engine</span> Grade II listed windmill in Crux Easton, Hampshire, UK

Crux Easton wind engine is a Grade II listed Titt wind engine, used as a windpump, at Crux Easton, Hampshire, England, which has been restored to working order.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Union Mills, Burnham Overy</span>

Union Mills or Roy's Mills are a Grade II listed combined tower mill and watermill at Burnham Overy, Norfolk, England which has been converted to residential accommodation.

John Kenneth Major ARIBA, FSA, popularly known as Ken Major was an architect, author and world authority on industrial archaeology, particularly windmills, watermills and animal powered machines. As an author, he was known as J Kenneth Major.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "HMG Activity - 1". Hampshire Mills Group. Retrieved 3 November 2009.
  2. ↑ "Online: the Mills Archive Trust (traditional mills and milling)". University of California, Los Angeles. Archived from the original on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 3 November 2009.
  3. ↑ Watts, Martin. "Milling and millwrighting" (PDF). Crafts in the English countryside. Retrieved 3 November 2009.
  4. ↑ "Journal of The International Molinological Society No. 65, December 2002 / summary - résumé". The International Molinological Society. Retrieved 3 November 2009.
  5. ↑ "Wind and watermill enthusiast receives MBE". BBC News. 2012-06-16.
  6. ↑ Beacham, M. (2008). "Variations on a theme: the English Midlands-type post mill". International Molinology (77): 9–19.
  7. ↑ Blythman, G. (2009). "Upper Dean Windmill". Mill News (120): 16–21.
  8. ↑ Bonwick, L. (2008). "The Kent miller's tale". International Molinology (76): 22–23.
  9. ↑ Bonwick, L. (2009). "Frank Gregory online". Mill News (120): 22–23.
  10. ↑ Howes, H. (2009). The Windmills and watermills of Bedfordshire: past, present and future. Book Castle.
  11. ↑ Jager, D. (2007). Windmills of Lincolnshire. Heritage Lincolnshire.
  12. ↑ Ogden, D. (2009). "Cann Mill". Mill News (120): 11.
  13. ↑ Yoward, A. (2003). "Archiving our mills". Industrial Archaeology News (124): 11–12.
  14. ↑ Cookson, R. & Hudson. S. (2003). "The Miller's tale". Family History Monthly (96): 44–47.
  15. ↑ Yoward, A. (2008). "The Best web sites for researching mill workers". Who do You Think You Are? (August): 87–89.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.