Access to this chapter is restricted for 24 months after publication by request of the publisher.. Restriction lift date: 2020-01-01
Water and wind power
Loading...
Files
Accepted Version
Date
2018-01
Authors
Rynne, Colin
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Oxford University Press
Published Version
Abstract
The inhabitants of most urban and rural communities in both Britain and Ireland during the later medieval period would have lived a relatively short distance from either a watermill or windmill. This chapter examines the most recent archaeological evidence for water- and wind-powered mills in later medieval Britain. The use of water power, in particular, was widespread in the later medieval period for a wide range of industrial activities. However, during this same period nearly all of the grain harvest was processed in either wind- or water-powered mills. The archaeological record also demonstrates a large degree of continuity, from the late Roman and early medieval periods, in the design of waterwheels and the mechanisms they actuated.
Description
Keywords
Watermill , Windmill , Dams , Weirs , Mill ponds , Millraces , Machinery , Millstones
Citation
Rynne, Colin (2018) 'Water and wind power', in Gerrard, C. and Gutiérrez, A. (eds.) The Oxford Handbook of Later Medieval Archaeology in Britain. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 491-510. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198744719.013.22
Link to publisher’s version
Collections
Copyright
© 2018, Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. Reproduced by permission of the publisher.