Alain Belmont

Abstract: Although geographically outside the heart of Europe, Norwegian millstone production was far from isolated from the rest of the continent. This article is based on research undertaken in French historical archives, a series of 18th- and 19th-century written sources, fi eldwork, and the comparison of Norwegian millstone quarries with over hundreds of millstone quarries recorded throughout Europe. The initial results indicate that Norwegian millstone quarries were subject to the same international rules of commerce as their contemporary counterparts. therefore exported their millstones at certain periods of time and were subject to the import of foreign millstones at others.

Keywords: Norway, France, millstone quarries, international trade, archives, Modern period, 18th-19th centuries

Alain Belmont, Université Grenoble-Alpes, Professeur d’histoire moderne, LARHRA, UMR CNRS 5190, UFR Sciences humaines, Bâtiment ARSH, CS 40700, [email protected], 38058 295 Grenoble cedex, ++33 04 76 82 73 87

Introduction It is becoming more and more apparent that the larger millstone production districts throughout Europe ranging in size from several hectares to several kilometres traded their millstones hundreds of kilometres away. The most renowned even exported their products internationally. This was the case of querns from during the Viking period evidenced by archaeological research and, to a lesser extent, Salten and other sites along the western coast (Baug, 2006; Baug, 2011; Grenne, 2014) . But what was their situation in Modern times and the 18th century in particular? Did these sites continue to massively export their production? A means of answering this question is Fig. 1: The Archives Nationales in Paris that houses old to sift through old documents that offer important written documents offering information as to international data as to of millstone origin that turn up at their millstone trade Photo A. Belmont.

Anderson, T.J., Alonso, N. (eds), Tilting at Mills:Th e Archaeology and Geology of Mills and Milling. Revista d’Arqueologia de Ponent extra 4, 2019, 295-305 ISSN: 1131-883-X, ISSN electrònic: 2385-4723, DOI.10.21001/rap.2019.extra-4.20 296

TILtING At MILLS: THE ARCHAEOLOGY AND GEOLOGY OF MILLS AND MILLING CNRS 5190). de RechercheHistoriqueRhone-Alpes(LARHRA, website “meulieres.eu”designedbytheLaboratoire quarries throughout Europe in the Atlas of the well asbyobservationscollectedaboutmillstone out in France by the University of Grenoble, as from thedozenmillstonequarryexcavationscarried analysing theminthelightofresultsobtained (Hyllestad, Vågå,Selbu,Brønnøy,Saltdal)and of visiting the main Norwegian quarry sites millstones. references to Norwegian millstone quarriesand from the17thto19thcenturiesthatcontain focuses onFrencharchivesandwrittensources its base in . Survey (NGU-NorgesGeologiskeUndersøkelse)with Grenoble in France and the Norwegian Geological established in2009betweentheUniversityof approach wasadoptedduringthepartnership even countries. borders ofmunicipalities,counties,territoriesand away from the quarries themselves and cross the knowledge ofmillstoneworkingsandtradetomove and mill inventories. and tollaccounts,portcommercialstatistics commercial litigations,legalproceedings,customs producers andretailers,merchantstockinventories, freight invoices, commercial agreements between documents consistofsalecontractsandreceipts, destination historical archives limits of Europe. adventure ofmillstonemakingalongthenorthern international contextandthrowlightonthehuman helped placeNorwegianmillstonequarriesinan extraction sitetoanother.Theseanalyseshave well assimilaritiesandthedifferencesfromone throws lightonmillstoneexportandimportas to the 19th centuries, France possessed a vast colonial Fond 1802; Mongez 1818). appreciate itsvalue(Guettard 1773;FaujasdeSaint- the middleof18thcentury andcouldtherefore known Norwegianinternational millstonetradesince meant thatFrenchsavantswereawareofthelittle- circulating throughoutEuropeandbeyond.This (Buhrstones) quarriedintheParisBasinandwidely reputation forthequalityofitssiliceousmillstones offers three advantages: their longdominationoverNorway.YetFrance settings tocollectthistypeofinformationdue Stockholm would,infact,appeartobebetter Norwegian millstonequarries.Copenhagenand the mostlikelyplace to studythehistoryof French writtensourcesand This approachwassuccessfulasthenewdata The archaeologicalapproach,inturn,consisted The historicallineadoptedinthisanalysisthus This type ofhistoricalandarchaeologicalresearch It isthereforeoftennecessarytogainin-depth The secondadvantageispolitical. Fromthe17th The firstisthatitalreadypossessedaworld-wide France, farfromNorway,isnot,onthesurface, rather than at their source. These based onstatistics fromtheNorwegian customs in turn,begantobeaccompanied byprecisetables very brief.Thesubsequent recordsfromthe1780s, no mention of querns or millstones. tons ofiron,wood,masts, planks,fish,etc.-but the sameconclusion.Theircargoesconsistedof on EnglishshipsmooredinBergenandcameto the AmericanWar ofIndependence,theconsulspied BI/207). Threedecadeslater, inJune1778,during this periodofthetransportmillstones(AN,AE/ It isnoteworthythattherenoevidenceduring reported on30FrenchshipsanchoredinBergen. ports. Thus,in1747,theconsulofKingLouisXV yearly reportsontradetoandfromthemain consuls andvice-consulsinNorwayhadtosubmit written sourceswerethusconsultedforthispaper. French NationalLibrary.Atotalof70differentold comprises morethantwomillionrecordsfromthe and Gallica (http://gallica.bnf.fr). This last website the internet(GoogleBooks:http://books.google.fr) from the17thto19thcenturiesavailableon National Library andtheÉcoleNationaledesMines. the Foreign Ministry Archives(AMAE), the French Nationales (abbreviatedforthwithasAN)(Fig.1), different institutionsinParissuchastheArchives records andotherprintedmaterialpreservedin through thenumeroushandwrittenmanuscripts, sources, theauthorofthispaperundertooksearches geology and mines. contributing avastamountofdataonNorwegian in the19thcenturychoseNorwayasadestination, dissertations ortheses.Atleast31ofitsstudents number oftraveljournalsandreportsequivalentto work bythestudentsledtopublicationofa trips inFranceoraforeigncountry.Thisfield techniques, requireditsstudentstocarryoutfield education specificallydedicatedtogeologyandmining institution, oneoftheworld’sfirstcentreshigher founded in1783andstillexistencetoday.This des Mines (National Engineering Mining School) Norwegian millstonesisduetotheÉcoleNationale by the French fleet or by corsairs. ships anddrawupinventoriesofthosecaptured the officialswerealsorequiredtospyonenemy industrial production and trade. In times of war, but describingaspectsoftheNorwegianeconomy, to Paris not only outlining the political situation, These officialswereobligedtosubmityearlyreports established atTrondheimandKristiania(). the Bergenconsulwaslaterassistedbyvice-consuls opened afirstconsulateinBergenaround1710and Norway formedpartofthenetwork.LouisXIV a widenetworkofambassadorsandconsuls.And empire stretchingfromNorthAmericatoAsiawith Norwegian exports International millstonetrade The earliermiddle18th-century documentsare Among theirdiverseobligations,theFrench This study also includes texts and articles published Encouraged bythepotentialoftheseFrench The thirdreasonFranceisapivotalplacetostudy office, as well as observations by the diplomats of Norwegian millstones, adding supplemental themselves. Thus, in 1782, Consul Frammery drew geographical data: up a complete inventory of the 600 to 800 ships In the district of and Drontheim [Trondheim], docked in Bergen. According to this record, no they export vast quantities of salted fish in barrels, Norwegian millstones were among the exports (AN and also cod, split and dried in their cold air, merely Marine, B/7/465). without any salt, called stock-fish; also pickled and Frammery’s successor, Dechezeaulx, drew up dried salmon, much train oil, or whale oil; immense similar records for the ports of Bergen, Trondheim quantities of marble; also touchstone, alabaster, slate, and Kristiania (Oslo). In February 1785, he produced mill stones, agate and jasper (Anderson 1786, 3: 390). a global trade register for the port of Bergen (Tableau Norway changed from Danish to Swedish hands du commerce de toutes les nations dans le port de in 1814. Its new king, Charles XIV John, pursued Bergen en 1784, AN Marine AE/B/3/418). Six hundred a free trade policy by promoting a law in 1825 ILLING M and forty-four ships docked at Bergen’s port that regulating trade between Sweden and Norway. The AND year: 3 French, 190 Norwegian based in Bergen, 122 law specifically mentioned the trade of millstones Norwegian from other ports, 147 Danish, 53 English, between the two states: ILLS M

34 from Hamburg, 21 Swedish, 2 Russian, 4 from All raw materials and industrial products, of OF

Ostend and 4 from Prussia. Yet none transported indigenous or foreign origin, can be exported overland

millstones. The same can be inferred from the from Norway to Sweden as long as their import EOLOGY records in Bergen, Trondheim and Kristiania (Oslo) is authorised in Sweden [these products include] G AND of 1782, 1784, 1785 and 1786. millstones and grindstones (AN, AE B 3416). Hence, if we can trust the 18th-century official The exports of Norwegian millstones attained French reports, Norway under Danish control did such a level as to be cited in 1817 in the writings

not export millstones in spite of possessing very of the American geographer Nathaniel Dwight: RCHAEOLOGY large millstone workings. Is this exclusion a result What is the commerce of Norway? The exports A HE

of the frequent maritime conflicts in the Atlantic are fish, lumbers, furs, horses, cattle, fish-oil, butter, : T Ocean during the 18th century? Or is it the effect of

copper, hides, marble, millstones, and a few other ILLS

Danish economic policy seeking to protect its own articles (Dwight 1817: 16). M A t production (e.g. the Höör quarries of Skåne during After the middle of the 19th century, Norwegian the 17th century, and later those of the Island of millstones, like their German, French or English IL t ING Bornholm) to the detriment of Norwegian exports? counterparts, began to appear in the larger T (It must be noted that French consuls in the 18th international exhibitions. In a Stockholm exhibition century consistently complained of Danish economic from June to August 1866, Norway was the only 297 protectionism.) Did Norway suffer from the same Scandinavian country to exhibit millstones. A slightly constraints as those imposed on Iceland, another condescending French engineer noted the following: Danish territory? as described by Frederick Metcalfe: Norway has exposed some baptismal fonts, as well ... owing to Danish oppression, and the interdict as a column and several small household objects made against English and other traders - this country had of sienite. These objects are well made but their shape in the last century sunk to the very lowest ebb. The is of bad taste. Among the group are some millstones people had forgotten everything... Millstones were which are quite unremarkable (Mathis 1869: 45). no longer known, all the bread being made of meal Did the emerging international reputation of imported from . It was about 1770 that by Norwegian millstone workings, reaching as far as order of the Danish monarch some patterns were North America, signify that millstones from Selbu, reintroduced from Norway, and the people taught to Hyllestad and other Nordic quarries were crossing hew millstones for themselves the material for which the ocean? No. In fact, only a few left Norwegian abounds in the country (Metcalfe 1861: 150). ports. In his Journey through Norway, Lapland and Economic protectionism gradually gave way during part of Sweden, Robert Everest specified that 39 the 18th century to free exchange, unblocking millstone pairs were levied an export tax at the restraints on international millstone trade. The port of Bergen in 1820 (Everest 1829: 367). These first mention of Norwegian millstone export is thus stones possibly did not come from quarries around recorded by the Frenchman Antoine Boudet in 1772: Hyllestad but most probably from Selbu. This appears Norwegians are very gifted for crafts and trades to be confirmed in 1835 by the Penny Cyclopaedia although these activities have never flourished in of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge their country. Manufacturers are uncommon and the (Vol. 3-4: 274): inhabitants do themselves considerable harm as they From the interior of the country, Bergen receives do not work their own raw materials. The profits iron-manufactures, glass, tiles, etc.; from the towns from the export of manufactured goods and raw in the diocese of Trondhjem, some copper, with materials reach three million ECU. These materials millstones and grindstones. are: metals, wood, fish, talcum, millstones and other These exports, although modest at the beginning stones, hides of cows and goats, dog fish, various of the 19th century, gradually increased over time. furs, eiderdown and other feathers, butter, tallow, The Statement of the Amount of Goods exported from whale oil, tar, potassium, vitriol, alum, various types Norway for the Seven Years ending 1841 published in of seeds (Boudet 1772: 457). 1844 by the British Parliament makes no mention Fourteen years later the Englishman Adam of millstone exports from 1836 to 1840. It does, Anderson seconded this notion regarding the export however, cite 96 pairs for 1841 (Vol. 47: 106). 298

TILtING At MILLS: THE ARCHAEOLOGY AND GEOLOGY OF MILLS AND MILLING very inconsiderable (Tenney 1859: 589). production isallconsumedinthecountry, andis steatite, mill-stones,andgrindstones;buttheir as follows: The MiningMagazinedescribesNorwegianquarries Ferté-sous-Jouarre (France).TheAmericanperiodical at Mayen (Germany), Derbyshire (England) and La the thousands sold abroad yearly by the workings 1841, however, isamodestnumbercomparedto Russia (Grenne2008:54).The96pairsexportedin that were traded to Denmark, Sweden, Finland and than 250workmenproduced600millstonesperyear the industrialera.Between1846and1850,more production intheTrøndelag areawasinfactentering Frederik BirchofSelbu?Selbu’s vastmillstone contribution from French archives is that they whet-stones (Latham 1840: 289). own mill-stones. There is no necessity for importing states the following: began a millstone tax project (Dufrenoy 1834). house. Itisnotuntilthe1830sthatFrench ironic aseach,infact,wasworththepriceofa ballast forshipsand thus notleviedtax.Thisis The heavyFrenchstoneswere,infact,considered Jouarre wereneverrecordedincustomsregisters. millstones exported annually from the La Ferté-sous- of millstones.InFrance, for example,the6,000 or nothaverecorded,thetradeoflargenumbers century authors,couldeasilyhavebeenunawareof, registers, thebaseofinformationformost19th- beyond the horizon of the Norwegian . growing districtofSelbustillstruggledtotravel 19th centurywasindecline,whileproductsofthe Great Britain.Yet thisdistrictinthemiddleof Iceland, Denmark,northernGermany, Irelandand numerous rotaryquernsthatfoundtheirwayto Hyllestad, activesinceViking times,produced European scale.Moreover, thequarrydistrictof industrial landscapesofabeautyandscaleat Norwegian millstone imports Fig. 2: Manuscript by the French consul recording the British “Meules à éguiser et à Moulin” (whetstones and millstones) There are...someworks for theextractionof Is thissurgeduetotheefforts ofbusinessman Yet thewriterwasmistaken.Animportant The Norwegianmillergrindshiscornbetween In 1840,theEnglishmanRobertGordonLatham Yet, tobeprudent,official statisticsandcustoms Norwegian millstonequarrieshaveyielded imported into Bergen (1784). Collection of the French Archives Nationales. Photo A. Belmont. it intotheportofKristiansand(AMAE,consular 1795) fivemilesofftheNorwegiancoastandtowed corresponding tothePeggyinLloyd’sRegistreof La Suffisante captured the British of theFrenchRepublic(July2,1795),corvette times millstones. retain many listings of cargo content including at from the18thandbeginningof19thcentury Sea andNorthAtlantic.Therefore,consulararchives to carryoutattacksonBritishshipsintheNorth provided excellent moorage permitting the French and theKingofFrance.TheNorwegiancoastline as todivideitequallybetweenthecorsair’scaptain consul whodrewupaninventoryofthecargoso during theNapoleonicwar–itwasboardedby neutral oralliesofFranceinthe18thcenturyand a capturedship–DenmarkandNorwaywereeither a FrenchcorsairanchoredatNorwegianportwith to assisttheFrenchRoyalfleetanditsallies.When involving France,partoftheconsul’smissionwas Yet otherrecordsfillthegaps.Duringwars only citesourcesinIreland,ScotlandandEngland. first questionandarevagueastothesecond.They consular reports,unfortunately,donotanswerthe Norway? Andwheredidtheyoriginate?The AE/B/3/417). from London,CopenhagenandAmsterdam(AN, Län), importedqvarnstenatacostof156riksdaler län), Höör(Skånelän)andMalung(Dalarnas own productionsfromLugnås(VästraGötalands foreign millstones.Swedenin1849,spiteofits was nottheonlyScandinaviancountryresortingto no mentionofmillstoneimports.Moreover,Norway products. Barringerror,recordsuntilthenmade including Trondheim,makenomentionofthese reports drawnupfortheotherNorwegianports, from Britain(AN,AE/B/3/418)(Fig.2).Similar the arrivalinBergenofmillstonesandwhetstones cash in gold and silver. several largetextilesandsocksofwoollittlevalue, Irish shipstransitingBergenin1784recordsthat: consul ofthecargoes634English,Scottishand a large-scale. The detailed report by the French imports intoNorway,butthattheytookplaceon reveal not only the existence of foreign millstone For example,on14Messidorofthethirdyear What wasthescaleofmillstoneimportsto A yearlater(1785),Dechezeaulxalsorecorded ... they onlycarrycoal,grindstonesandmillstones, Peguy (probably ILLING M AND

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Fig. 3: The cargo of 450 “meules” (millstones) imported from England on the Peguy (1795) (line 5 from the bottom). Collection of the Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Photo A. Belmont.

trade correspondence, Christiansand, t.1, 1795-1802: Millstones also arrived in Norway from Germany, 25-26) (Fig. 3). The Peguy’s original destination, after notably from the Crawinckel and Frankenhain sailing from Newcastle-upon-Tyne (an English port quarries in the Thuringen region. Carl Günther 50 km south of the Scottish border), was Ålborg Ludovici and Johann Christian Schedel record in Denmark. in the Neu eröfnete Academie der Kaufleute, oder The cargo comprised of “80 tonnes de charbon Encyclopädisches (1799: 1087) the export to Norway et 450 meules de grès” (“80 tons of coal and 450 of Crawinkel products: sandstone millstones”). In French, the word “meule”, The Crawinkel stones are thus named because of when alone, denotes millstones to grind grains. the quarries which are not far from the woodland This term contrasts with other types of meules village of Crawinkel in the Gotha region. Everyone, associated with other terms that specify their nature: with the exception of the English, knows them. They sharpening stones, whetstones, grindstones. Sold are the best and for this reason very sought after on the docks at Kristiansand, the 450 millstones abroad. They are even sent to regions far away, such on this ship would have been enough at that time as Norway. to equip a large part of the mills in southern and The vast German quarries at Jonsdorf, in Saxony, south-. and at Barsinghausen near Hanover, could also This, in fact, was not the Peguy’s first trip to possibly have provided a great number of millstones, Norway, as the consul recorded that it had already as indicated by oral information from local guides. docked 103 times at Kristiansand. French diplomatic Yet no foreign millstone has, to date, been documents, concerning either this capture by corsairs discovered during an archaeological excavation in or the registers from 1784 and 1785, therefore serve Norway. It is true that it is not easy to identify as proof that Norway in the 18th century was being foreign millstones if they are highly worn, broken supplied with millstones from the British Isles. or reused in walls or paving. Finding such objects 300

TILtING At MILLS: THE ARCHAEOLOGY AND GEOLOGY OF MILLS AND MILLING 50°44’13.3; E 10°46’17.9)accompaniedby hundreds take ontheformoflarge, easilyidentifiablepits(N beside theLütscheValley dam.Theseworkings of the quarries were in the village of Frankenhain segmented millstonesper year (Leffler2001).Some yielding between1,000 and 3,200whole the areaisknowntohaveemployed220workers date asfarback1500.Yetitisin1860that kilometres. where cylinder extraction was spread over several on thenorthernsideofThuringianMountains dynasties ofmillstonemakersbasedinthevillages no quarryitselfbutservedasthecentreoftradefor Cobourg andGothaDuchy.Crawinkel,infact,had that inthe18thcenturybelongedtoSaxe- Crawinkel is asmalltowninnorth-eastGermany we surveyedpotentialGermanandBritishquarries. import inthe18thcentury?Toanswerthisquestion, their wide distribution in Roman times. millstones andmillinginstallationsthemselvesof there isampleevidenceintheformofexogenous archaeologists inthelate20thcentury.Todayfact in theMiddleAges,onlybegantobeidentifiedby water-driven millstones,supposedlyonlyintroduced task evenmoredifficult.Asananalogy,inFrance, when theyarenotsupposedtoexistmakesthe The oldestrecordsoftheCrawinkelproduction What typeofmillstonesdidNorwegianmillers Fig. 4: Sample of the “porphyry” rock from Crawinckel (Germany). Photo A. Belmont. and the north of the United States. Richard Kell, exported its stones as far as Canada site. One such company, founded in 1784 and led by specific grainmillstoneproduction appearedatthis to Tucker,itwasonlyin the19thcenturythat century andwell-suitedfor grainmilling.According were highlyreputedfromthebeginningof16th overshadow those of the millstones. the written records of the whetstone workings these quarries is difficult to reconstruct because (Tucker 1987:185).Hestatesthatthehistoryof page ofonehisarticlestotheNewcastleworkings history ofBritishmillstonequarries,dedicateda were loaded at Newcastle-upon-Tyne. the cargoofPeguy(1795)soldinKristiansand (Fig. 5)andthatthesandstonemillstonesamong and 1785camefromIreland,ScotlandorEngland only note that those transiting Bergen in 1784 as to the sources of the British millstones. They “porphyry” (Fig. 4). silica, isreferredtobycertainwritersasCrawinkel porous rhyolite.Thisextremelyhardrock,richin 15 to 27 cm thick, hewn from a grey to pink, are relativelysmall,60to73cmindiameterand of abandonedandbrokenmillstones.Thestones Yet theyellowNewcastlesandstonewhetstones Gordon Tucker, a recognised specialist of the Written texts,unfortunately,donotofferdetails and the quarry basin of the Derbyshire Peak District studied by Gordon Tucker and Jill Polack. These workings are known to have exported millstones to Holland from the 17th century, and to Europe and America in the 18th century. Norway, according to Tucker, also received 84 English millstones in 1867 at a value of £305 (Tucker 1984; 1985; 1987; Polack 1987). Kaim Hill was the most important millstone production in Scotland. This site, not far from Glasgow, is on the western coast of the Lowlands ILLING at the town of West Kilbride (N 55°44’08.6; W KAIM HILL M 4°50’05.7) opposite the Clyde firth and the Irish AND Sea. A quarry face of three superimposed rows of extractions stretches a length of 300 m and a width ILLS M OF

of 100 m across the slopes of a small mountain. The site exported at least 5,000 to 10,000 millstones

during the early years of the 19th century to EOLOGY Ireland and America. Yet, even if this grey-white G AND DERBYSHIRE conglomerate, with a high proportion of pebbles and quartz fragments (Fig. 6), was of a quality that might have interested Norwegian millers, it did not

form part of the cargo of the Peguy in 1795. RCHAEOLOGY A

On the other hand, the stone from the Peak HE

District of Derbyshire in the Pennine Mountains : T

of central England corresponds perfectly to that ILLS

of the cargo of the Peguy. This sandstone consists M A t of fine homogeneous ochre, red or grey grains

combined with quartz clasts ranging from 1/2 mm IL t ING to 10 mm in diameter in a silica matrix (Fig. 7). T The Peak District workings are recorded as early 301 Fig. 5: Location of the potential sources (Kaim Hill, as the 13th century and became known worldwide Scotland and Derbyshire, England) of British millstones arriving in Norway. as their products, according to Tucker: … were exported to other countries all over the world by the nineteenth century ... [and were] ... the most famous of all the millstone-making areas Recently, evidence of a large millstone extraction in Britain, and the quantity made probably exceeded site has been identified in the Newcastle region that from all the other millstone-making areas put (Nolan 2000) at Bearl in the village of Bywell (N together. 54°58’54; W 1°55’07.26). Here, in 1525-1526, a Tucker goes on to specify that over 50 other certain Thomas Baytes quarries, and working areas have been identified ... took of the lord a quarry of milnestones [sic] as sources of millstones (Tucker 1987: 173). The within the lordship, for 24 years from February 2 sites we visited at Stanage and Millstone Edge at ... the said Thomas also to find millstones for the Hathersage (N 53°19’08.1; W 1°37’44.2), Gardom Edge lord’s mills at Biwell and Ridlee when necessary at Baslow (N 53°15’16.4; W 1°35’44.8) and Kinder (Hinde 1857: 134). Scout at Hayfield (N 53°23’01.81; W 1°53’33.59) A second site in the area of Newcastle is described extend over vast areas. In the case of Hathersage, by Lindley (1833: 1) as follows: quarry faces reaching 40 m in height and stretching Wideopen, near Gisforth, is about five miles north over several kilometres exemplify the industrial scale of Newcastel-upon-Tyne. The bed in which this quarry and proportion of this site’s capacity to export a is worked, is considered one of coal formation; and huge number of millstones (Fig. 8). has its name of ‘Grindstone Bed’ from being extensively Thus millstone exports to Norway were numerous quarried for millstones and grindstones. during the 18th and 19th century from quarries Finally, according to the Durham University in Germany, England, and probably also from the library archives (DCD/K/LP7/28, September 13, Swedish workings of Lugnås, Malung and Höör, very 1826), there is a third quarry around Newcastle close to the Norwegian border. These products, in opened in 1826 at Muggleswick, near Conset, several direct competition with Norwegian quarries, obviously kilometres south-west of Newcastle. Field work has had an impact on the Norwegian production. It has yet to be carried out, but in all probability the been recognised, from the sites studied in France, yellow Newcastle sandstone extractions could well England and Germany, to what degree the major correspond to those sold in Kristiansand in 1795. producers of La Ferté-sous-Jouarre, Derbyshire and Two other British sites could also have supplied Mayen battled commercially, from the Middle Ages millstones to Norway. These are Kaim Hill in Scotland onwards, to acquire and retain the goodwill of millers 302

TILtING At MILLS: THE ARCHAEOLOGY AND GEOLOGY OF MILLS AND MILLING surely notenoughtobefeltoverseveralcenturies. Early MiddleAges(Baug2006;Heldal2011),but consequences on the economy and society of the from the14thto17thand19thcenturies? et al.2008).But,whatoccurredduringthegaps and reachesitspeakinthe19thcentury(Grenne three orfourcenturieslater,inthe17thcentury, 64) (Fig.9).TheSelbuproduction,inturnemerges coinciding withtheGreatPlague(Grenneetal.2008: century and then their decline in the 14th century Salten quarries throughout the 8th to the 10th an increase in the importance of the Hyllestad and Elizabeth Bloxam offer a chronological table revealing years, TorGrenne,TomHeldal,GurliMeyerand Selbu: Norwegianmillstonequarryingthrough1300 and pursued in the following centuries? vast quarryworkingsinitiatedintheVikingperiod to helpunderstandthelongtermevolutionof beyond their national borders (Belmont 2006). Fig. 7: Sample of a pink sandstone from the Peak District in Derbyshire (England). This district could have supplied The bubonicplaguehad,ofcourse,dramatic In theexcellentarticleentitledFromHyllestadto Are theimportstoNorwaythereforeakeyfactor Fig. 6: Conglomerate sample from Kaim Hill (Scotland). Photo A. Belmont. millstones to Norway. Photo A. Belmont. to the18thcenturyasBergenwasawell-known the developmentofthisnetworkduring14th the HanseaticLeagueprobablyplayedakeyrolein other countriesinawidetradenetwork.Furthermore, a lostislandbutEuropeannation,integratedlike imported millstones. and riseofthatSelbutothecompetition gap betweenthedeclineofHyllestadproduction would thereforeappearmorelogicaltoassignthe the population in the 14th and 15th centuries. It and famineaccountedforthelossof50to75% Saint-Martin isinaregionwhereepidemics,war quality workings.ItmustalsobenotedthatMont- benefit ofothernearby,moreaccessible,andbetter the clifftops,couldhaveeasilybeenabandonedin altitude of1400manddifficulttoaccessalong to 1351(Belmont2006).ThisFrenchsite,atan halted fouryearsduringtheplague,from1348 example, indicate that the millstone workings only in theDauphinéofAlpsnearGrenoble,for The yearlyrecordsoftheMont-Saint-Martinquarry This isnotdifficulttofathom.Norwaywas ILLING M AND

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Fig. 9: Chronology of Hyllestad and Selbu, the main Norwegian millstone quarries (adapted from Grenne et al. 2008: 64). 304

TILtING At MILLS: THE ARCHAEOLOGY AND GEOLOGY OF MILLS AND MILLING and part of Sweden. London. commercial interestoftheBritishEmpire.London. earliest accounts,containinganhistoryofthegreat deduction oftheorigincommercefrom In: of quernstones and millstones in Western Norway. RGZM. Mayen: 55-59. industriel européen.ActesducolloquedeGrenoble, Recherche, protectionetvalorisationd’unpatrimoine Paris. notes etavissurl’Agriculture,lesArts,leCommerce. F E D D D B B B A nationale, 397-405: 411-23. de laSociétéd’Encouragementpourl’Industrie pierres meulièresdesenvironsdeParis.Bulletin à la révolution industrielle. Grenoble. de meulesmoulinsenFrance,duMoyenAge Albany. according tothelateactofCongressVienna. for common schools: in which Europe is divided propres àfaire d’excellentesmeules de moulins. lieues d’Andernach,d’oùl’on tiredeslavesporeuses, souterraines etvolcaniques deNiedermennich,àtrois upon-Tyne, that exported millstones to Norway. Lloyd 2002).ThesamecanbesaidofNewcastle- kontor (tradingpost)ofthisLeague(Dollinger1964; precious help and unfailing cooperation. goes to the Norwegian Geological Survey for their Bergen andtheRiksantikvaren.Aspecialrecognition the UniversityofBergen,MaritimeMuseumat Saltdal, Selbu,Sigdal,aswellthepersonnelof personnel ofthecountiesHyllestad,Brønnøysund, Ewa Lisowska.Iwouldalsoliketothankthe Øystein Jansen,StephenWickler,AudTretvikand Solaas, FinnBorgenFørsund,ArildMarøyHansen, Skartum, Magnar Solbakk and Miss Solbakk,Trygve Ellen-Anne Pedersen,MariLanderud,Hans-Petter Lølland, SisselCarlstrøm,HildeTeksleGundersen, Tor Grenne,IreneBaug,AstridWaage,Tørbjorn assisted thisresearch:GurliMeyer,TomHeldal, Bibliography Acknowledgements a nderson verest oudet aug elmont wight ufrenoy ollinger u I wouldliketowarmlythankallthosewhohave ja A. , s

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