Windmill

History From grain to flour

Bread needs flour, and grinding grain by hand is slow, hard work. Mills used the power of water or wind instead. When England's great survey, the Domesday Book, was made in 1086, it already listed thousands of watermills.

Windmills appeared in northwestern Europe in the late 1100s. They were useful where rivers were slow or froze in winter.

History How a post mill worked

The earliest European windmills were post mills. The whole wooden body of the mill sat on one strong upright post, so the miller could push it around with a long tail pole to face the wind.

• The wind turned the sails, which were wooden frames covered with cloth.
• The sails turned a shaft and wooden gears inside the mill.
• The gears turned a heavy upper millstone against a lower one that stayed still.
• Grain poured in through a hole in the top stone and came out at the edge as flour.

History The miller

Millers were usually paid by keeping a share of the grain, called multure. In many places the lord owned the mill and tenants had to grind there. A picture of a windmill in an English prayer book from around 1270 gave it its name: the Windmill Psalter.

Think about it

1. Why would a miller need to turn a mill to face the wind?
2. What other jobs could wind or water power do?
3. Where does the flour in your kitchen come from?

Key words

Millstone

A heavy round stone used for grinding grain.

Post mill

A windmill that turns on a single upright post.

Multure

The share of grain kept by a miller as payment.