Watermill at No Mill Could Have Been Created Without the Millwright, and No Historical Background Complete Without His Mention
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H.H.L Carpenter Liverpool College of Higher Education The Watermill at No mill could have been created without the millwright, and no historical background complete without his mention. Millwrighting was a craft which grew up with the invention of the water and windmills. It was a completely adaptable craft, for Bunbury no two mills were ever the same. It had no previous technologies to guide it, except for the construction that now remains of the 1960 complex, which of the wheel itself and the construction of the comprised the mill itself, stables and an engine shed. building. Both of these crafts came together under The miller still occupies the mill house which stands the jurisdiction of the one man who had to adapt 100 m. away. them to his needs. The wheel needed modifying The present structure is a three storied brick to take the strains imposed upon it and, more building on a sandstone foundation which is built importantly, for cogs or paddles to be fitted. into the damside. It houses the water-wheel and all The buildings, and here I include the ancillary the gearing and machinery of the mill. The dam constructions to direct the water onto the wheel, which creates the millpond has a sluice on one side had to be custom made to suit the millwright, of the mill and a culvert to direct the water onto the for this later became the task of the mason. wheel in the mill at first floor level. It also affords This idea helps to distinguish the character of access to the top floor for the off-loading and the millwright. He was adaptable, for he had to be loading of the raw materials and the mill's produce. able to apply his craft to the variety of mills. The building measures 12.3m. by 7.0m. with a wall Different needs, different requirements of power thickness of 0.45m. and different geographical conditions all determined The ground floor is reached by a door opposite the layout of the mill. He was the most technically the damside of the building. It contains the wheel minded of his trade, for he had to adapt new ideas pit which is enclosed, the hursting with all the and new technologies as they evolved. He was more gearing to the millstones above, and the fire to the intellectually alert for he had to communicate ideas, drying kiln. Access to the water-wheel is either both with the miller and the mason. He also had gained from a store on the ground floor leading to have a great understanding of the nature and to the inner part of the wheel and axle spokes, or properties of the materials he used. from the first floor to the paddles. Once a mill was complete he would move on, The first floor is reached by a narrow staircase, looking for more work, and as such he would . and containst the pentrough and sluice gate, three probably work in an area both large enough to . pairs of stones, of which only one has been restored provide work, and small enough to be known QY to a working condition, the drive to the sack hoist the millers. His work would be varied, from small and the drying room. Originally the wheel was repairs to the construction of new or badly damaged covered with removable floorboards, but these have mills. The trade of the millwright, like that of the been removed, and a low partition substituted so miller, was handed down from father to son, that the wheel can easily be seen. although apprenticeship might have been given. The second floor contains the sack hoist and He would therefore be absent from his family for partitions which separated the sacked grain. It was long periods of time. from this floor that the grain started its downward With the decline of the wind and watermills in descent through trapdoors in the floor, through favour of the more convenient and advanced power sacking into the hoppers and thence to the stones, sources, the craft of the millwright also came to finally being ground and collected in wooden troughs an end. In mills which were working in the latter arranged round the hursting on the ground floor. part of the 19th and early 20th centuries, the miller would have to do what repairs he could. If the The Water-wheel repair was too large a job for the miller, then often This is an overshot wheel containing 36 'J' section the mill would fall into disuse, as the watermill at wooden buckets held by a cast iron rim. The axle this time was not economically viable, and large is of cast iron, 370mm in diameter, and ribbed repairs would have been too costly. to allow packing to be placed to secure the water-wheel and pit wheel. The central hubs of the Bunbury Mill water-wheel are of cast iron, but contain recesses At the turn of the century the mill was one of four for the six pairs of oak spokes of 120 x 100mm. in the immediate area, the others being situated cross section which are bolted to both the hubs and below Beeston Castle, at Tilstone Fearnall and at the rims. The rims themselves are in six pairs bolted Tarporley. The mill at Tarporley was powered by together, with cast grooves on the inside to take the steam only, while the others derived their power elm paddles. The outside board holds the lower from the River Gowey, being further downstream one in position, and is itself secured with nails. from Bunbury. The bottom boards, or 'sole plates', are fastened The mill prior to the one standing was probably from the inside of the wheel and form a continuous a sandstone and timber framed building, built into drum. The whole assembly is therefore a composite the damside, and was probably burned down in the structure of cast iron and elm measuring 1.45m. period 1839-1851. Charred remains were found wide by 3.1 m. diameter, weighing 10 tons, giving during restoration work. The present building is all an estimated 16 horse-power. Gearing and engaging the drive from the first to second With reference to the schematic diagram showing floors. In order that the sack hoist can be operated the sequence of gearing, the transference of power on any floor, thin rope is attached to the lever to from the water-wheel to the stones and sack hoist pull it in position, the rope descending to the other can be traced. two floors. The pit wheel is located onto the same axle as the water-wheel, and transfers the drive from the The millstones horizontal plane to the vertical plane with the aid Of the three sets of millstones on the second floor, of the wallower. Both the wallower and the great the one set which had been restored to working spur wheel are mounted on an octagonal oak shaft, order was of French Burr. This is a quartz stone 400mm A/F, and are held in position with wooden from the vicinity of La-Ferte-sous-J ouare and packing pieces. The teeth of the great spur wheel Epernon which, because of its nature, it is difficult mesh with the stone nuts, yet they also continue to obtain a whole stone of uniform quality. over the upper surface of the gear. The reason for These stones are therefore built up with selected this was that the drive from the standby steam pieces (often as many as 14) cemented together engine engaged onto this wheel, this shaft being with plaster of Paris and bound with an iron casing. horizontal and being directly driven from the They were used for the harder cereals, in this case flywheel via a two pronged dog clutch. This engine maize and wheat. The other two sets of stones were was rarely used and was dismantled and given to separated, one being Birmingham Burrstone, the the War Effort in 1940. other being a composite of a Birmingham Burrstone Around the great spur wheel are three stone nuts for the bed-stone and a Derbyshire Peak runner-stone. and a spur gear of the same construction which is These two sets are natural stones hewn in one piece, used to drive the hoist. These stone nuts and spur and being of a soft nature, only used on the softer gear, unlike the others encountered so far which oats. The Birmingham Burrstone has a surface are completely of cast iron construction, are made texture containing holes which cut the grain before of cast iron, but morticed to receive beech teeth. grinding takes place. The diameter of the stones There are 28 teeth per gear, each clog being held varied, the French Burrstone being 1.38m. in in place by a matching taper on the inside of the diameter, and the other two sets being 1.2m. in gear, the ends of the teeth being dovetailed in the diameter. opposite direction. The spindle stones were underdriven, the These gears could be disengaged by raising them bed-stone resting on the floor with the spindle on their tapered square shaft, a composite part of emerging through it. Around the spindle is the the spindle, until they were clear of the great spur neck-box (a brass collar), which is held in place wheel. This was done by a jack ring, raised or by 3 sets of shims and leather packing, so that it lowered by a screwed rod located under the bridge runs centrally in the bed-stone.