International Molinology

Journal of The International Molinological Society

No. 62, July 2001 / summary - résumé

Editorial
by Michael Harverson
     One of the pleasures of an editor’s desk is the varied post that reaches it. Some represents reaction to material previously published and now requiring comment or correction on our Communications pages. Some contains articles offered for publication or others whose promised delivery has been awaited for several months. Some brings information about mill events that the organisers hope may be of more than passing interest to certain TIMS members. Some takes the form of regular journals and newsletters or new publications that are sent as complimentary copies rather than for formal review. With the development of e-mail letters have become something of a rarety, but those few that do still arrive are welcome for the personal quality of their contents, as well as for the unfamiliar and colourful stamps that decorate the envelopes.

     Please enjoy the content of the new issue.

The 10th Symposium on Molinology: U.S.A.
by Derek Ogden

Introduction 
    During the 9^th Symposium General Meeting of T.I.M.S. in Hungary in 1997 it was agreed that the 10th Symposium on Molinology would be held in Virginia, U.S.A. It was soon decided that the location would be Stratford Hall Plantation, which not only had good conference facilities but also a working water mill. The dates were fixed as 16th to 24th September 2000 when, it was hoped, the weather would cooperate and we might not yet be bothered by the hurricane season. It had already been agreed to hold the Symposium in 2000 rather than waiting the more usual four years, because of the millennium celebrations and the better chance of obtaining grants. These are always necessary to help pay for the important aspects of a Symposium and the costly publication and mailing of the Transactions.

    A brief description of the location is required because it is such a beautiful place and although it could be considered a little remote, that is more than made up for by the hospitality of the staff and the historic surroundings. Stratford Hall is one of the great houses of American history. Its magnificent setting on a high bluff above the Potomac River and its bold architectural style set it apart from any other colonial house, but its highest distinction is in the family of patriots who lived there. The plantation is still managed as a farm today on 1,600 of its original acres. The house was built in the late 1730's by Thomas Lee. Two of his sons, Richard Henry Lee and Francis Lightfoot Lee, were amongst the signatories of the Declaration of Independence from British rule. Among the many distinguished members of the Lee family, Robert Edward Lee is the most prominent and was born here in 1807. He was destined to become the General-in-Chief of the Confederate Armies during the Civil War between the States. The restored watermill on the Stratford Hall estate is worked for visitors by Steve Bashore, who played an important role in the day-to-day organization of the Symposium.

    The weather did indeed behave nicely and in due course one hundred participants from fifteen nations, assembled at Stratford Hall on Saturday 16th September for a Reception and Dinner. The reception was held in the Great House where everyone assembled in the Great Hall to be entertained with cocktails and eighteenth century music played on a period violin. Unfortunately, the conversation of one hundred molinologists, meeting for the first time in three years, rather drowned out the delicate sounds of the violin. However it was the thought which counted and it was very much appreciated. After the reception the party made its way to the dining room, via lantern-lit pathways. The welcome speeches were made before dinner and included Col. Thomas Taylor, the executive director at Stratford, Mrs. Blount, President of the Robert E. Lee Memorial Association, and Roger Mudd, the well know television journalist. Roger Mudd gave an exhilarating speech , full of molinological humor and useful Southern information for overseas visitors.

The Papers
     Sunday afternoon saw the beginning of the Paper Sessions. A change in the duration of the Symposium from seven to eight days enabled a more leisurely timetable, with adequate time for questions and answers after the presentation of each paper. The presentation of Papers is perhaps the most important part of the symposium and requires a high standard in the final publication of the Transactions. As Ton Meesters pointed out in IM 55, page 2, the standard was set for us by Anders Jespersen with his Transactions of the second Symposium in Denmark in 1969. Truly a magnificent work and one which is certainly regarded as the molinological bible by the organizers of the Tenth Symposium.

The following Papers were presented during the week of the symposium:

     It would be unfair to single out any Paper, because they were all of exceptional value to our molinological research. Many hours were spent on the preparation of these Papers. However, we were all treated to a truly remarkable presentation by Kenjiro Kawakami on Japanese saw mills. His video and energetic demonstration more than made up for his limited command of the English language. One can only imagine the problems he had with the airlines and customs officials when he carried the large saw through Dulles Airport, let alone getting it on the aircraft in Japan. The Symposium Chairman was very honored to receive the saw as a gift from Kenjiro, which must have relieved him of untold responsibilities in getting it back to Japan. It will now be treasured in Madison, Virginia and has already begun its new duty as a conversation piece.

The Mill Tour

     It always comes as a shock to many visitors coming to the United States for the first time when they discover it is such a huge country and the distances between states and cities can take many hours of travel time. It is a fact of life here that distance is measured in hours and not miles and that traveling coast to coast can take a few days by car. Within a few hours drive of Stratford, to the north, is a wonderful collection of mills, in a relatively small area around Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Furthermore, there are a few good mills along the way, and a museum or two. The tour began with an early start from Stratford on Tuesday morning for a long drive to Pennsylvania. The party was divided into two groups on separate buses. Both groups were able to visit all of the chosen mills but in a different order, because the mills were unable to handle the sudden influx of one hundred people. A few of the mills had never received visitors before because they were either privately owned or working mills. (A comprehensive report on the tour is in the printed version.)
(8 pages, and many pictures)

TIMS 2000 -  Pre Symposium Tour of Virginia
by Niall Roberts
(1 page)

The Dutch Style Windmill (Tower Mill) at Pricovy
by Jan Beránec, Daniel Dolezal, Rostislav Korený, Roman Krivánek, Pavel Vareka
(6 pages, 2 pictures)

"Travelers' Tales"
Greek Windmills in the words and pictures of travelers from 1400 to 1900
by Stephanos Nomikos  (translated by Michael Harverson)

    Significant assistance in the study of the evolution of the Greek windmill, and also of its existence and the chronology of its appearance in various regions, can be obtained from looking at the writings and drawings of all kinds of travelers: sightseers, mapmakers, members of military expeditions, pilgrims etc, from the 15^th to the 19^th century.
    The experts always have reservations about the accuracy of all the details in the illustrations in the various publications. Special attention should be paid to the information provided by cartographers and artists who accompanied expeditions, which is reckoned to be much more reliable.

Fig.4. The windmills on the shore at Chios, Braun and Hoggenberg, 1598.

    A systematic search through publications, both in archives and in libraries, private and public, in Greece and abroad, has only just begun and will be gradually extended to include every kind of mill which once operated in Greek-speaking lands - hand mills, animal mills, watermills etc. Important information has already been located that will be useful in the compilation of the Greek Mill Archive currently being organized by the Institute of Hellenic Mills.
(4 pages, 6 illustration)

Millwright in a Transitional Period "Jørgen Jørgensen" Copenhagen,
Denmark, 1778 - 1838
by Lise Andersen

     In connection with the continental blockade during the Napoleonic wars, the Danish flour milling industry had lost its competitiveness, particularly when compared to the flour milling industries of Britain and America. The Danish state endeavored to raise the quality of Danish flour and hulled grain products. Periodicals carried articles about new inventions, and by the granting of patents and of subsidies from the industrial Foundation, the construction of commercial mills was encouraged. Despite massive resistance from the Millers' Guild, development of the milling industry was gradually started. Commercial flour milling developed especially in the capital, Copenhagen, whilst milling flour for customers dominated in the provinces throughout the l9th century. The millwrights of the time took an active part both in the debates and in experiments with modern flour milling technology.

     Jørgen Jørgensen the millwright was born in 1778 in Bromme as a miller's son. As a rule, families of millers were better off than the rural population generally, and Jørgen Jørgensen had a better education than the peasant children of his own age. After having learnt the miller's trade from his father, he was apprenticed to a Copenhagen carpenter in 1796. The millwright's trade at that time was not an independent trade but a part of the carpenter's trade. In 1806 he was granted a trade license as a master carpenter in Copenhagen and was accepted into the Carpenters' Guild. He became one of those millwrights who followed the development of the flour milling industry at close quarters.
(1 page)

Watermills on the Dodecanese Islands
by Ioulia Papaeftychiou

     A report on the windmills on Rhodes, Kos and Karparthos. (2 pages, 5 pictures)

Tidemills in Australia
by Keith Preston / W. Minchinton

It has been generally held that tidemills were a phenomenon confined to the Atlantic basin, but research has shown that in Tasmania there were tidemills at Spreyton (near Latrobe) on the north coast, which operated between c.1855 and 1890. According to a local history (Charles Ramsay, With the Pioneers): "Towards the end of 1852 Stephen Kelcey, a native of Kent, just arrived from England, purchased a large amount of land north-west of Dean’s Point, Swan Bay and the Figure-of-eight Creek….Close to his home on the point of the promontory lying between the two inlets he built a saw-mill and later a flour-mill, both of which he worked by tidal waters. From the point, in almost opposite directions he built dams across the two inlets. Gates were opened when the tide began to come in, and closed as soon as the tide was high, so that the outflowing water would turn the large wheels which worked the machinery of both mills… He built a small jetty close to his mills from which lighters and small vessels took away timber, and later flour and other produce."

Fig.2. Spreyton Mill at the end of its life c.1892

Kelcey's Mill, Spreyton 
     The north-west coast of Tasmania was developed during the second half of the 19^th century with flour mills established as settlement migrated westward from the Tamar Valley area. Water and steam-powered mills were erected at the developing inland towns of Westbury and Deloraine during the early 1850s. As settlement spread north-westwards towards the coast, a requirement for flour milling was recognized by Stephen Kelcey who was to establish the first mill at the southern end of the Mersey estuary. Kelcey requested permission to erect a flour mill in December 1853.
(3 pages, 3 pictures)

Other subjects

1. Planning the Future of  a Molinological Collection
   by David Jones

2. The windmill Collection at the Fred Turner Museum, Loerisfonstein, South Africa
   by Norman H. Marks

3. Windmills on Stamps

4. Sussex Windmill Prints

5. A New Mill Society in Switzerland
   Adress to contact: Heinz Schuler, Groggenmoos, CH-3533 Bowil BE

6. French Millstone Conference

7. Third Spanish Conference on Molinology

8. Los Molinos de Viento

9. Proceedings of the International Tide Mill Conference

10. Windmills of Alexandria

11. Japanese Watermill Society

12. Book Reviews

13. TIMS news
       by Derek Ogden

• ---

  ISSN 1024-4522
  This summary of the 62nd Jounal of The International Molinological Society
  has been prepared be Gerald Bost, Berlin -December 2001.
  The complete printed version can be ordered from TIMS Publication Officer:
  Leo van der Drift
  Groothertoginnelaan 174 b/c
  NL-2517 EV Den Haag
  The Netherlands                 
  

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Published: dinsdag, november 06, 2007 12:47:50