Click Mills from Huxter
The three click Mills of Huxter (also Clack Mills) from west Sandness are typical examples of Nordic or Horizontalrad water mills , an earlier type of water mills, which are also called click or Norse Mills and Lewis and Harris , the Orkney and Shetland found become.
The Huxter grain mill on the Shetland island of Mainland used a water wheel with horizontal paddles that powered a pair of grindstones. Due to the simple shape, several mills could be built on a watercourse. They were made locally, and the millstones also come from the region.
Each mill is built across the stream, which had sluice gates that could divert the flow of water when the mill was not in use. Each mill was run by three families and could also be used to grind someone else's flour. It is estimated that a mill could grind a bushel of grain per hour, which is about 45 pounds of flour. The last mill was in operation until the 1940s.
Distribution and specifics
Remains of horizontal mills can be found in Scotland and the islands. A restored and intact Click Mill is on the Orkney island of Mainland ( Click Mill by Dounby ). Others are at Shawbost on Lewis (reconstruction) in Ireland and at Westing on the Shetland island of Unst . The dendrochronology shows that the vast majority of mills in Ireland was 630-930. Previously it was assumed that the type of mill only spread to Ireland through the Normans .
literature
- GD Hay, GP Stell: Monuments of industry. Edinburgh 1986. pp. 8-10
- JR Hume: The industrial archeology of Scotland, 2 , the Highlands and Islands 1977
Web links
- Listed Building Entry . In: Historic Scotland .
- Entry on Huxter's Click Mills in Canmore, Historic Environment Scotland's database
- Description Engl. and pictures
- Video
- Description Engl. and pictures
Coordinates: 60 ° 17 ′ 52.6 " N , 1 ° 41 ′ 21.4" W.