Wind, Water and Steam

Hertfordshire has an unusually rich and diverse milling heritage. As well as its long tradition of corn milling, the county once enjoyed a reputation for the milling of a variety of other products, including pioneering papermaking in the west of the county, gunpowder and small arms in the east, and also silk and cotton. There are records of 110 watermills and 71 windmills in Hertfordshire but little physical evidence of most of them remains today. Of the few that do survive, eight are accessible to the public and offer unique insights into the past. Heavily illustrated with both historic and contemporary photographs, this book acts as an invaluable guide to these mills and also provides a comprehensive gazetteer of all known Hertfordshire mills, whether extant, in ruins or demolished.