List of early medieval watermills

Short description: none

Tide mills, along with riverine ship mills, were a major early medieval technological advance, allowing to tap the tidal power along the Atlantic Coast for milling.

This list of early medieval watermills comprises a selection of European watermills spanning the early Middle Ages, from 500 to 1000 AD.

## Contents

* 1 Historical overview
* 2 Earliest evidence
* 3 Written sources
* 4 Archaeological finds
* 4.1 Watermill sites
* 4.2 Millstones
* 5 References
* 6 Notes
* 7 Sources
* 8 Further reading
* 9 External links

## Historical overview

German ship mills on the Rhine at Cologne, around 1411.

Largely unaffected from the turbulent political events following the demise of the Western Roman Empire, the importance of watermilling continued to grow under the new Germanic lords. The sharp rise in numbers of early medieval watermills coincided with the appearance of new documentary genres (legal codes, monastic charters, hagiography) which were more inclined to address such a relatively mundane device than the ancient urban-centered literary class had been.[1] This partly explains the relative abundance of medieval literary references to watermills compared to former times.[2]

The quantitative growth of medieval evidence appears to be more than a mere reflection of the changing nature of surviving sources. By Carolingian times, references to watermills in the Frankish Realm had become "innumerable".[3] At the time of the compilation of the Domesday Book (1086), there were an estimated 6,500 watermills in England alone.[4]

By the early 7th century, watermills were well established in Ireland, and began to spread from the former territory of the empire into the non-romanized parts of Germany a century later.[5] The introduction of the ship mill and tide mill in the 6th century, both of which yet unattested for the ancient period,[6] allowed for a flexible response to the changing water-level of rivers and the Atlantic Ocean, thus demonstrating the technological innovativeness of early medieval watermillers.

## Earliest evidence

Below the earliest medieval evidence for different types of watermills. This list complements its ancient counterpart.

Date  | Water-powered mill types  | Find spot (or reference) | Location

|
|
|

537  | Ship mill[7] | Procop V (=Goth. I), 19.19–22  | Rome
6th century  | Sawmill; crank and connecting rod system without gear train [8] | Gerasa and Ephesus | Jordan and Turkey
6th century  | Vertical-wheeled tide mill [9] | Killoteran near Waterford  | Ireland
c. 630  | Horizontal-wheeled tide mill[10][11] | Little Island I  | Ireland
c. 636  | Horizontal-wheeled mill (Norse or Greek mill) [10] [A 1] | Ballykilleen  | Ireland

## Written sources

In the following, literary, epigraphical and documentary sources referring to watermills and other water-driven machines are listed.

Reference  | Location  | Date  | Type of evidence  | Comments on

|
|
|
|

Annals of Ulster[12] |  | 650  | Annal  |
Benedict of Nursia, Regula 66.6–7 [13] |  | 529/547  |  | Possible watermill
Caesarius of Arles, Sermones, VIII, 4 [14] |  | Early 6th century  |  |
Cassiodorus, Variae III, 31.2 [15] |  | 510/511  |  |
Charter of king Childebert I[16] | Paris | 556  | Charter  | Ship mill
Charter of king Dagobert II[17] | Trier  | 646  | Charter  |
Charter of king Ethelbert of Kent[18] |  | 762  | Charter  |
Charter [19] | Wang-Thulbach  | 754  | Charter  | Possible watermill
Charters [20] | Lorsch Abbey  | 760s onwards  | Charter  |
Edictus Rothari 149–151 [21] |  | 643  | Legal code  |
Gregorius Turonensis, Historia Francorum III, 19 [16] | Dijon  | c. 575  | Historiography  | Ship mill
Gregorius Turonensis, Vitae Patrum, XVIII, 2 [3] |  | 484/507  | Hagiography  |
Lex Alamannorum, 79–80 [22] |  | 717/719  | Legal code  |
Lex Baivariorum, IX, 2 [22] |  | Probably 725/728  | Legal code  |
Lex Visigothorum, VII, 2.12 and VIII, 4.30 [21] |  | 568/586  | Legal code  |
Marius Aventicius, Chronica [16] | Geneva | 563  | Annal  | Ship mill
"Muliheim" [19] | Near Niederalteich  | 731  | Charter  | Likely watermill site
Nomos georgikós 81–82 [21] |  | Late 7th century  | Legal code  |
Pactus Alamannorum, V, 14 [22] |  | Early 7th century  | Legal code  |
Pactus legis Salicae, Recensio Guntchramna, X, 6; XII, 1–3; XXXI, 3 [15] |  | 567/596  | Legal code  |
Procop V (=Goth. I), 19.19–22 [16] | Rome | 537  | Historiography  | Ship mills
Senchus Mòr, De ceithri slichtaib Athgabála [21] |  | c. 600  | Legal code  |
Venantius Fortunatus, Carmina, III, 12, 37–8 [17] |  | c. 600  |  |
Vita Haimhrammi, 37 [23] | Thuringia  | c. 770  | Hagiography  | Watermill (?) machinery
Vita Leobae, 12 [22] |  | c. 740  | Hagiography  |
Vita S. Orienti, II, 3 [3] |  | c. 380/420?  | Hagiography  |
Vita Sturmi, 20 [24] | Fulda  | c. 765  | Hagiography  | Mill-channel
Vita S. Brigidae virginis, cols. 787–8 Migne [12] |  | c. 650  | Hagiography  |
Vita S. Remigi episcopi Remensis, 17 [3] |  | 486/511  | Hagiography  |

## Archaeological finds

### Watermill sites

Below are listed excavated or surveyed watermill sites dated to the early medieval period.

Site  | Country  | Date  | Identification/Remains

|
|
|

Ebbsfleet[25] | England | Early 8th century  | Horizontal-wheeled tide mill
Old Windsor I [10] | England | Probably late 7th century  | Mill-channel, woodwork of three vertical water-wheels
Old Windsor II [10] | England | 9th or 10th century  | Mill-channel, horizontal-wheeled mill
Raunds, West Cotton [26] | England | Late Saxon  | Leat, sluice gate, chute, stake and wattle lined and stone surfaced wheel-pit
Tamworth[10] | England | Between 846 and 864  | Entire establishment
Dasing[27] | Germany | 696/697  | Vertical-wheeled undershot or breastshot mill, mill-pond, mill-race, fragments of mill-stones
Ballykilleen [10] | Ireland  | c. 636  | Horizontal-wheeled mill
Cloontycarthy [10] | Ireland  | c. 833  | Entire establishment
Drumard [10] | Ireland  | c. 782  | Horizontal-wheeled mill
Killoteran near Waterford[9] | Ireland  | 6th century  | Vertical-wheeled tide mill
Little Island I [10][11] | Ireland  | c. 630  | Horizontal-wheeled tide mill
Little Island II [10][11] | Ireland  | 7th century  | Vertical-wheeled tide mill
Morett [10] | Ireland  | c. 710  | Vertical-wheeled undershot mill
Gerasa[28] | Jordan  | 6th century  | Sawmill; crank and connecting rod system without gear train
Nendrum Monastery mill[29] | Northern Ireland  | 619 & 789  | Horizontal-wheeled tide mill
Ephesus[30] | Turkey | 6th century  | Sawmill; crank and connecting rod system without gear train; multiple mill complex with at least five watermills

### Millstones

The following list comprises stray finds of early medieval millstones. Note that there is no way to distinguish millstones driven by water-power from those powered by animals turning a capstan. Most, however, are assumed to derive from watermills.[31]

Site  | Country  | Date (or find context) | Remains

|
|
|

Stroud[32] | England | Probably Anglo-Saxon  | Mill-paddles from horizontal wheel
Moycraig[32] | Ireland  | 9th century  | Horizontal paddle-wheel, hub and shaft, complete with pebble bearing

## References

1. ↑ Wilson 2002, p. 3
2. ↑ Wikander 2000, pp. 372f.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Wikander 1985, p. 170, fn. 45
4. ↑ Holt 1988, pp. 7–8, 11
5. ↑ Wikander 2000, p. 400
6. ↑ Wikander 2000, pp. 379 & 383f.
7. ↑ Wikander 2000, pp. 383f.
8. ↑ Wilson 2002, p. 16; Ritti, Grewe & Kessener 2007, pp. 149–153; Kessener 2010; Mangartz 2010
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Murphy 2005
10. ↑ 10.00 10.01 10.02 10.03 10.04 10.05 10.06 10.07 10.08 10.09 10.10 Wikander 1985, pp. 155–157
11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Rynne 2000, pp. 10, fig. 1.2, 17, 49
12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Wikander 1985, p. 168, fn. 18
13. ↑ Wikander 2000, p. 399
14. ↑ Wikander 2000, p. 399, fn. 121
15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Wikander 2000, p. 400, fn. 123
16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 Wikander 2000, p. 384
17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 Wikander 1985, p. 169, fn. 42
18. ↑ Wikander 1985, p. 169, fn. 26
19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 Wikander 2014, p. 212
20. ↑ Wikander 2014, p. 214
21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 21.2 21.3 Wikander 2000, p. 400, fn. 124
22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 22.2 22.3 Wikander 1985, p. 168, fn. 14
23. ↑ Wikander 2014, pp. 214f.
24. ↑ Wikander 2014, pp. 213f.
25. ↑ Watts 2006, p. 6
26. ↑ Windell, Chapman and Woodiwiss (1990). From Barrows to Bypass, Excavations at West Cotton Raunds Northamptonshire 1985-1989. Northamptonshire County Council. pp. 29–32.
27. ↑ Czysz 1994, pp. 152–154
28. ↑ Wilson 2002, p. 16; Ritti, Grewe & Kessener 2007, pp. 149–151; Kessener 2010
29. ↑ McErlean & Crothers 2007
30. ↑ Ritti, Grewe & Kessener 2007, pp. 151–153; Mangartz 2010; Kessener 2010
31. ↑ Wikander 2000, p. 372
32. ↑ 32.0 32.1 Wikander 1985, p. 165

## Notes

1. ↑ Archaeology has unearthed in recent years increasingly more evidence for the existence of this wheel-type in the imperial Roman period.

## Sources

* Czysz, Wolfgang (1994), "Eine bajuwarische Wassermühle im Paartal bei Dasing", Antike Welt 25 (2): 152–154
* Holt, Richard (1988), The Mills of Medieval England, Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, ISBN 978-0-631-15692-5
* Kessener, Paul (2010), "Stone Sawing Machines of Roman and Early Byzantine Times in the Anatolian Mediterranean", Adalya 13: 283–303, ISSN 1301-2746, https://www.academia.edu/7326869
* Mangartz, Fritz (2010), Die byzantinische Steinsäge von Ephesos. Baubefund, Rekonstruktion, Architekturteile, Monographien des Römisch-Germanischen Zentralmuseums, 86, Mainz: Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum, ISBN 978-3-88467-149-8
* McErlean, Thomas; Crothers, Norman (2007), Harnessing the Tides: The Early Medieval Tide Mills at Nendrum Monastery, Strangford Lough, Belfast: Stationery Office Books, ISBN 978-0-337-08877-3
* Murphy, Donald (2005), Excavations of a Mill at Killoteran, Co. Waterford as Part of the N-25 Waterford By-Pass Project, Estuarine/ Alluvial Archaeology in Ireland. Towards Best Practice, University College Dublin and National Roads Authority
* Ritti, Tullia; Grewe, Klaus; Kessener, Paul (2007), "A Relief of a Water-powered Stone Saw Mill on a Sarcophagus at Hierapolis and its Implications", Journal of Roman Archaeology 20: 138–163, https://www.academia.edu/7414675
* Rynne, Colin (2000), "Waterpower in Medieval Ireland", in Squatriti, Paolo, Working with Water in Medieval Europe, Technology and Change in History, 3, Leiden: Brill, pp. 1–50, ISBN 90-04-10680-4
* Watts, Martin (2006), Watermills, Shire, ISBN 978-0-7478-0654-7
* Wikander, Örjan (1985), "Archaeological Evidence for Early Water-Mills. An Interim Report", History of Technology 10: 151–179
* Wikander, Örjan (2000), "The Water-Mill", in Wikander, Örjan, Handbook of Ancient Water Technology, Technology and Change in History, 2, Leiden: Brill, pp. 371–400, ISBN 90-04-11123-9
* Wikander, Örjan (2014), "Early Water-mills East of the Rhine", in Karlsson, Lars; Carlsson, Susanne; Kullberg, Jesper, ΛΑΒΡΥΣ. Studies presented to Pontus Hellström, Boreas. Uppsala Studies in Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Civilizations, 35, Uppsala: Uppsala Universitet, pp. 205–219, ISBN 978-91-554-8831-4
* Wilson, Andrew (2002), "Machines, Power and the Ancient Economy", The Journal of Roman Studies (The Journal of Roman Studies, Vol. 92) 92: 1–32, doi:10.2307/3184857

## Further reading

* Watts, Martin (2002), The Archaeology of Mills and Milling, The History Press LTD, ISBN 978-0-7524-1966-4

## External links

* The Oxford Roman Economy Project: The uptake of mechanical technology in the ancient world: the water-mill – Quantitative data on watermills up to 700 AD

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