Millstone and Grindstone Production in the Pennines and North-west England: A Historical and Archaeological Survey

ABSTRACT

A survey of millstone and grindstone production sites in the western Pennines of north-west England has identified 54 sites. Combining archival research with field survey, the production of millstone roughouts was identified at varying scales at each site, with evidence for the production of grindstones and edge runners apparent at several of the sites. Very few of these production sites have received attention from past researchers and some were previously unrecorded. The survey has enabled a detailed picture to be compiled of production methods, sales and transportation of roughouts from the medieval period to the early 20th century. Various case studies are used to illustrate the nature of this lost rural industry.

KEYWORDS:

• millstone roughouts
• grindstones
• western Pennines
• north-west England

Acknowledgements

I acknowledge the input of Annie Hamilton-Gibney, Jan Hicks and Peter Gallagher for drawing my attention to several of the production sites. I am grateful to Carol and Alan Dougherty and the late Miles Newman for their company and assistance over many days of field surveying; and to the archivists at Northallerton, Morley, Preston and Kew. I also wish to record my gratitude to the editor and anonymous reviewer for helpful comments on this article. Any errors and omissions remain the responsibility of the author.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Abbreviations
CAS	=	Cumbria Archive Service
NYCRO	=	North Yorkshire County Record Office
TNA	=	The National Archives
WYAS	=	West Yorkshire Archive Service

Notes

1 Michael Nevell and Norman Redhead, eds, The Historic Environment of North West England: A Resource Assessment and Research Framework, Archaeology North West Series vol. 4 (Salford: Centre for Applied Archaeology, 2021).

2 R. John Cruse, ‘The Querns’, in Contact, Concord and Conquest: Britons and Romans at Scotch Corner, ed. David W. Fell, NAA Monograph Series vol. 5 (Barnard Castle: Northern Archaeological Associates, 2020), 531–44. doi.org/10.5284/1078330

3 Paul C. Buckland and Jon Sadler, ‘Ballast and Building Stone: A Discussion’, in Stone Quarrying and Building in England AD43–1525, ed. David Parsons (Chichester: Phillimore, 1990), 114–25.

4 Colin Haselgrove, Cartimandua's Capital? The Late Iron Age Site at Stanwick, North Yorkshire, Fieldwork and Analyis 1981–2011, CBA Research Report 175 (York: Council for British Archaeology, 2016), 283, 417; Peter R. Wilson, Cataractonium. Roman Catterick and its Hinterland. Excavations and Research 1958–1997, CBA Research Report 129 (York: Council for British Archaeology, 2002), 280. One millstone had a diameter of c. 700mm, the other 800–840mm; R. John Cruse, ‘Querns and Millstones’, in Stuart and Cath Ross, eds, Cataractonium: Establishment, Consolidation and Retreat, NAA Monograph volume 6 (Barnard Castle: Northern Archaeological Associates, 2021), 555–83.

5 David S. Johnson, Southerscales: A Deserted Settlement (Clapham: Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust, 2019), 111, 122–25.

6 Buckland and Sadler, ‘Ballast’, 120.

7 Until the invention of windmill technology in the last decades of the 12th century there were only watermills in England; Maurice W. Beresford and J. Kenneth S. St Joseph, Medieval England. An Aerial Survey (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1979), 251.

8 Different sources disagree on the total number of mills. Historic England, Mills. Introductions to Heritage Assets (Swindon: English Heritage, 2018) gives 5624, while John Langdon, Mills in the Medieval Economy. England 1300–1540 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004), 9 and 11, gives a figure of 6082 at Domesday rising to 10,000–12,000 by 1300.

9 These definitions are from the Forum on Information Standards in Heritage (FISH) thesaurus. Rough millstones were also used for grinding fodder, peas and beans. Originally the term grindstone was applied to those stones used in Sheffield's steel and cutlery trades. An archaic alternative term for a millstone was, in north Cumberland at least, dogstone: William Farrer and John Brownbill, eds, A History of the County of Lancaster, vol. 8 (London: Victoria County History, 1914).

10 Court of Common Pleas, CP40/813, 339d, Michaelmas 1464.

11 D. Gordon Tucker, ‘Millstones, Quarries and Millstone-makers’, Post-Medieval Archaeology 2 (1977): 1–21.

12 Margaret Gelling and Ann Cole, The Landscape of Place-names (Donington: Shaun Tyas, 2014), 219; Paul Cavill, A New Dictionary of English Field-names (Nottingham: English Place-Name Society, 2018), 478.

13 Great Whernside is first noted from 1214 as Querneside; and Whernside in 1202–8 as Querneside or Quernesyde.

14 Richard Bennett and John Elton, History of Corn Milling, vol. 2 Watermills and Windmills (Liverpool: Edward Howell, 1899), 233.

15 Charles D. Hockensmith, ‘Millstones, Querns and Millstone Quarry Studies in the United Kingdom: A Bibliography’, International Molinology 74 (2007): 24–31.

16 Jeffrey Radley, ‘Peak Millstones and Hallamshire Grindstones’, Transactions of the Newcomen Society 36, (1963–4): 165–73; Frank Nixon, The Industrial Archaeology of Derbyshire (Newton Abbot: David & Charles, 1969), 83; David Hey, Packmen, Carriers and Packhorse Roads. Trade and Communications in North Derbyshire and South Yorkshire (Ashbourne: Landmark, 2001), 100.

17 Rosamond Meredith, ‘Millstone Making at Yarncliff in the Reign of Edward IV’, Derbyshire Archaeological Journal 101 (1981): 102–6.

18 D. Gordon Tucker, ‘Millstone Making in the Peak District of Derbyshire: The Quarries and the Technology’, Industrial Archaeology Review 8, no. 1 (1985): 42–58; John Barnatt, Reading the Peak District Landscape (Swindon: Historic England, 2019): 123–5, 228–9.

19 George Jobey, ‘Millstones and Millstone Quarries in Northumberland’, Archaeologia Aeliana 14 (1986): 49–80.

20 S.M. Linsley, ‘Millstones from Brockholm Quarry, Northumberland’, Industrial Archaeology Review 12, no. 1 (1989): 178–84.

21 Jon Hoyle, Hidden Landscapes in the Forest of Dean (Swindon: Historic England, 2019), 120–2.

22 D. Gordon Tucker, ‘Millstone Making in Scotland’, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 114 (1984): 539–56.

23 Niall Colfer, ‘Turning Stone into Bread: The Millstone Quarries of Medieval and Post-medieval Ireland’, Industrial Archaeology Review 41, no. 1 (2019): 65–72. See also Colfer, ‘The Millstone Quarry of Lough Eske, Co. Donegal’, Journal of the Mining Heritage Trust of Ireland 17 (2019): 31–9.

24 Hockensmith, ‘Millstones, Querns’, 24–31.

25 Francis Grainger and William Gershom Collingwood, Register and Records of Holm Cultram (Kendal: T. Wilson, 1929). ‘Great quantities’ of ‘barley millstones, grindstones, and rigstones’ were sourced from Barngill Quarry, Distington (NX 99832185) in the 19th century (William Mannix and William Whellan, History, Gazetteer & Directory of Cumberland, [Beverley: W.B. Johnson, 1847], 322).

26 William H. Stevenson, Calendar of Liberate Rolls preserved in the Public Record Office, 23 May 1241 (London: HMSO, 1930), 53.

27 Stephen Moorhouse, ‘Anatomy of the Yorkshire Dales: Decoding the Medieval Landscape’, in The Archaeology of Yorkshire. An Assessment at the Beginning of the 21st Century, ed. Terence George Manby, Stephen Moorhouse and Patrick Ottaway, Yorkshire Archaeological Society Occasional Paper No. 3 (Leeds: Yorkshire Archaeological Society, 2003), 334–5.

28 Roger Gale, ed., Registrum Honoris de Richmond (London: R. Gosling, 1722); William Page, ed., The Victoria County History of the County of York - North Riding, vol. 1 (London: Constable, 1914), 214–15.

29 Farrer and Brownbill, Lancaster, vol. 8, 140–51, n.17. Millstones were still produced here as recently as 1868.

30 William H. Chippindall, A Sixteenth Century Survey and Accounts of the Estates of Hornby Castle, Lancashire, Chetham Society New Series vol. 102 (Manchester: Chetham Society, 1939), 104.

31 ‘Howard Family of Naworth’, 9 December 1626. DHN/C/170/13, CAS Kendal.

32 See, for example, ‘Hobson v Neil: Leases and Will, Burton in Aysgarth’, 8 June 1675, 10 February 1676, 1 March 1676, 2 February 1680, 26 April 1695. C113/234, TNA. By an indenture dated 6 March 1695, the landowner, Major Norton, was bound to furnish all millstones, waterwheels and main timbers for rebuilding the mill while the miller, Alexander Kinder, was responsible for the actual work.

33 ‘Depositions re farming of quarries, West Witton’, ZBO V, U50 (6 September 1718), U54 (14 March 1718), U55 (30 June 1719), U57 (20 April 1720), NYCRO.

34 J. Rawlinson Ford and John A. Fuller-Maitland, John Lucas's History of Warton Parish (compiled 1710–1740) (Kendal: Titus Wilson, 1931), 145. Rumblesmoor is now Rombalds Moor and Lucas was referring to the extensive millstone production site on Addingham Edge, on the western side of the Moor.

35 ‘Memorandum of Agreement’, 15 May 1740, PR 2804, Lancashire Record Office.

36 It is stressed that this field survey makes no claims to have located and recorded every millstone or worked stone, particularly on the larger sites.

37 Richard Bennett and John Elton, History of Corn Milling, vol. 2, Feudal Laws and Customs (London: Simpkin, Marshall & Co.; Liverpool: Edward Howell, 1900), 95.

38 Philip Hudson, ‘Old Mills, Gritstone Quarries and Millstone Making in the Forest of Lancaster’, Contrebis 8 (1980): 35–60.

39 https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol8/pp74-76 (accessed 9 May 2021). This millstone income compares with sales totalling 6s in 1313–14 and zero in 1441.

40 Colin Dickinson, ‘Whittle Stone’, Regional Bulletin 7, no. 23 (1978): 11.

41 Edward Baines, History, Directory, and Gazetteer of the County Palatine of Lancaster, vol. 2 (Liverpool: Wm Wales, 1825), 648; John Leland, The Itinerary of John Leland the Antiquary in nine Volumes. Published by Mr Thomas Hearne, vol. 4 (Oxford: The Theatre, 1769).

42 Farrer and Brownbill, Lancaster, vol. 6, 1911, 33, n.12.

43 For a comprehensive and fully illustrated account of millstone production in the survey area, see David Johnson, Millstones of the Pennines and North West England (Stroud: Amberley, in press).

44 Farrer and Brownbill, Lancaster, vol. 5, 1911, 6–9. Horwich is a small town to the south of Black Coppice.

45 ‘Lady Anne's Account Book for 1665 and her separate Account for 1667 and 1668’, WDHOTH/1/17, CAS Kendal.

46 Albert H. Smith, The Place-Names of the West Riding of Yorkshire, Part 5 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1961), 146.

47 David J.H. Michelmore, ed., The Fountains Abbey Lease Book, 2 February 1502, Record Series No. 140 (Leeds: Yorkshire Archaeological Society, 1981), 163–4.

48 Morley, ‘Woo […] Ways in Brasty Woods relateing to the Millston Quarre’, 27 August 43 Elizabeth (1600), WYL 230/2657, WYAS Morley.

49 ‘Slingsby Family of Scriven, Account Book 1602–3’, 20 May 1602, YAS/DD/56/J/3/2, University of Leeds Brotherton Library.

50 Brotherton, Scriven, August 1629. YAS/DD56/J/3/5.

51 ‘Ingilby of Ripley Castle, Family & Estate Papers, Indenture’, 3 April 1711, WYL 230/3359, WYAS Morley.

52 Leeds Mercury, 14 March 1737–8.

53 ‘Millstone Quarry Account 1737–50’, WYL 230/2654, WYAS Morley.

54 TNA, ‘Ministers Accounts, Arkengarthdale Manor, 5 Edw IV’, 1465–6. SC6/1085/20, TNA; ‘Duchy of Lancaster, Ministers Accounts, Arkengarthdale Manor, 12 Edw IV’, 1473–4. DL29/648/10485, TNA.

55 Gladys M. Coles, ‘The Lordship of Middleham, Especially in the Yorkist and Early Tudor Times’ (MA diss., University of Liverpool, 1961).

56 ‘Book of Accounts for Worton Estate Martinmas 1694–1721’, WYL 5013/2187, Newby Hall Archive, WYAS Morley.

57 David L. Farmer, ‘Millstones for Medieval Manors’, Agricultural History Review 40, no. 2 (1992): 97–111.

58 Here, and elsewhere, these large fallen blocks were called ‘tumblers’, for perhaps obvious reasons.

59 William E. Preston, ‘An Addingham Millstone Quarry’, The Bradford Antiquary New Series, 7 (1952): 32–8; Iron Age querns have also been found below the crags.

60 ‘Lease for 11 yrs of Wingate Nick Cragg Quarry’, 95:66, 22 May 1712. Keighley Museum; Kate Mason, Addingham. Brigantes to Bypass (Addingham: Addingham Civic Society, 1996), 74–5.

61 Arthur Raistrick, Industrial Archaeology. An Historical Survey (St Albans: Paladin, 1973).

62 In the accounts of William Machon and partners, from 25 November 1483 to 26 November 1487, there is a simple but telling entry: ‘Item of the mylpecker 7d’. There is no indication of how many days work he had contributed. See B. Megson, ed., The Pinner's and Wiresellers' Book, 1462–1511 (London: London Record Society, 2009).

63 Tucker, ‘Millstones, Quarries’, 7–8; Jobey, ‘Millstones and Millstone Quarries’, 61; Linsley, ‘Millstones from Brockholm’, 179; J. Geoffrey Blacker, ‘The Stone Industry of Nidderdale, Part 2, Stone Uses’, British Mining 57 (1996): 5–33.

64 At NGR SD 9904056036.

65 Tucker, ‘Millstones, Quarries’, 4.

66 Jobey, Archaeologia, 64.

67 Tucker, ‘Millstone Making’, 541.

68 Tucker, ‘Millstone Making’, 546.

69 Tucker, ‘Millstones, Quarries’, 4.

70 Moorhouse, ‘Anatomy’, 334.

71 Terence A.M. Bishop (ed.). ‘Extent of Monk Friston, 1320’, Miscellanea, vol. iv, folio 18v, Yorkshire Archaeological Society Record Series 94 (1937), 62.

72 Daniel Defoe, A Tour through the Whole Island of Great Britain, Letter 8 (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1971; originally published 1724–6).

73 James Walton, ‘Old Yorkshire Stone Crafts’, Folk Life 35 (1996–7): 78–90.

74 Charles D. Hockensmith, The Millstone Industry: A Summary of Research on Quarries and Producers in the United States, Europe and Elsewhere (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., 2009), 11.

75 Wailes Rex, A Source Book of Windmills and Watermills (London: Ward Lock), 64.

76 Colfer, ‘Turning Stone into Bread’, 35.

77 Jobey, ‘Millstones and Millstone’, 66.

78 ‘Howard Family of Naworth, Estate Papers’, Verdict 22 November 1653. DHN/C/172/8, CAS Carlisle.

79 ‘Lady Anne's Account Book for 1665 and her separate Account for 1667 and 1668’, 10 August 1665, WDHOTH/1/17 – CAS Kendal.

80 ‘Fleming of Rydal. Account Book of Sir Daniel Fleming 1656–88’, 20 October 1683, WDRY/4/7/8, CAS Kendal.

81 Mary L. Armitt, Rydal by the Late Miss Armitt, ed. Willingham F. Rawnsley (Kendal: Titus Wilson, 1916), 418.

82 WYL5013/2187, WYAS Morley.

83 Anon., ‘The Production of Grindstones’, The Quarry 10 (1905): 15.

84 E.G. Smith, ‘Constructional Materials and Miscellaneous Mineral Resources of Yorkshire', in The Geology and Mineral Resources of Yorkshire, ed. Dorothy H. Rayner and J.E. Hemingway (Leeds: Yorkshire Geological Society, 1974), 361–71.

85 ‘Letters re Hope Quarry 1904–20’, WYL 230/1769; WYAS Morley; Blacker, ‘Stone Industry’, 5–33.

86 Bernard Jennings, ed., A History of Nidderdale (Pateley Bridge: The Nidderdale History Group, 1992), 321–2.

87 ‘Richmond and its New Industry’, Yorkshire Gazette, 27 July 1889. I am grateful to Ian Spensley for bringing this to my attention.

88 Tucker, ‘Millstone Making’, 173: in 1860 there were c. 24 burrstone makers in England with peak output achieved 1860–75. Jobey, ‘Millstones and Millstone’, 49, estimated a total of 30,000–40,000 burrstones in use in Britain.

89 Owen Ward, ‘French Burrstones — A Question’, Industrial Heritage 5, no. 1 (1987): 25–6.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

David S. Johnson

David Johnson originally trained as a historian and historical geographer who turned his attention to landscape archaeology/history. His main research interests lie in landscapes and land uses in northern upland contexts, and he has published on lime burning, quarrying, brickmaking and agricultural history. His doctorate utilised archival research and the ‘muddy boots’ approach to analyse how agricultural land in the Central Pennines was improved by liming. He also leads a long-term programme of archaeological investigations of early medieval settlement sites in the Yorkshire Dales.