AN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY CORN WATERMILL
By R. J. SPAIN
IN 1929 when Mr. L. V. Clark and Mr. T.V. Clark were sorting the effects
of the late Thomas Clark, 1838-1929, miller and corn merchant of
Fairbourne, near Harrietsham, they found two old mill ledgers belonging
to Alexander Bottle, an earlier miller at Fairbourne. Both ledgers have
Purchase and Sales sections. The earlier is dated from 30th September,
1751 to 10th October, 1760, and the later ledger from 1st January, 1782
to 31st December, 1784, except for the Sales section which terminates
on 9th December, 1784.
This analysis of the ledgers is divided into three sections called,
Buying; Production and Custom; and, Income, Expenditure and Profit.
BUYING
All the grain bought by the mill during the 12-yea.r period covered
by the ledgers was wheat. Although a considerable amount of mill work
was devoted to grinding barley and oats, the miller at no time attempted
to satisfy the potential demand for these grains. To have done so would
certainly have lowered his profits and probably brought about far more
work for his barley-stones which, unlike his burr-stones, required little
or no skill. Such work, called grist or hog-milling, which millers were
forced to accept with the spread of steam roller-mills a century later,
wa.s disliked.
The amount of wheat bought by the miller each year varied considerably
from 25-90 tons. Deliveries to the mill were quite irregular
in frequency and weight. Sometimes only a sack or two would be brought
to the mill, whilst at other times some 20 sacks, each weighing 2 cwt.,
would arrive. On average the delivery was about one ton per week.
Many different farmers delivered the grain each year. Sometimes one
farmer would make two or three deliveries. Fig. 1 shows the distribution
of the formers supplying wheat to the mill during the nine-year period
of the early ledger. Also indicated is the number of deliveries from each
area. The predominance of local farmers is unmistakable, since some
70 per cent. of all the deliveries came from Lenham, Boughton Malherbe,
Ulcombe and Harrietsham. During the nine years a total of 132 different
farmers supplied 508 deliveries. Approximately 50 farmers made only
one delivery, and most of those came from outlying villages, suggesting
that some of the mill intake was from farmers who toured the mills in
the hope of selling grain.
113
AN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY CORN WATERMILL
THE THICl,
grain §
bi)
'Ba.r' .s 3d. 25,256 26%
Ba.rley Grod'
.
'Oats Grod' C, 2d. 4,263 4!%
'Dogs Grod'
'Dogs Mea.t Grod' 0 2d. 1,650 N 2%
'Bran' 'Bra.n QD' No quantities are given for the entries of bran that occur. No
charge was made for bran.
Flo. 2 (Part One).
Sales-lst January-3lst December, 1783-Later Ledger
Typical Total Amount % of Total
Ledger Entry13 Refinement, Grain Domestic or Price Processed Grain Processed
or Pulse .Animal Use per in 1783 Through
Bushel {lb.)M MillA.
Fine Fine Flour Wheaten BreadE 9/4 224
Course - I Coarse Flour Wholemeal Flour l!' 8/8 26,247¼
Rd>
:g
Readers 9/4 13,928¼ .,
Meal
l
Meal 7/- 10,850
1
Polld Pollard Hogsx: 1/- 9,954 67%0 i -
Bran Bran Horsesc 7d. 11,494 0
Hulls Hulls ? 560
Wht Grod & Dressed Wheat Ground and 6d. 1,076
i Dressed
Wht Grod Wheat Ground 4d. 68,693 l:i)
Bar Grod ·ffl Barley Ground P Brewing, F Hogs, H 8d. 19,908 10%
t Ewes and La.Illbs I
Hog Corn Grod t Beans or Pease J Hogs 3d. 13,392 7%
Oats Grod Fine Q Oats Ground Fine Horseso 6d. 27,447 14%
Beans Grod Beans Ground Hogs and Horses D 3d. 2,964 1½%
·! SheepL
Peas Grod C, Peas Ground HogsE 3d. 539 ½%
SheepL
Wht Wheat Bought from the
Miller Without Processing
Handstones? 7/- 408
A. Exclucling 408 lb. of wheat bought from the miller without processing.
B. Ignoring a. single entry of Melo much used in the early ledger, probably a. mistake in this.
C. Boys, op. cit., 186, 'There a.re some farmers who allow neither corn nor hay ; but, instead thereof, twenty-four strike
bushels {a.bout two-hundred weight) of bran, per week, to a team, ••• '
D. Boye, op. cit., 98.
E. Boye, op. cit., 103; Bannister, 122, see 'H'.
F. John Ba.nieter, Synopsis of Husbandry, 1799, 98 ; W. Marshall, The Rural Eoorwmy of the Southern Oounties, 1798, 1, 124.
G. Banister, 99, ' ..• but the chief leading cause of the increased culture of this grain, is the present luxurious stile of
living, so prevalent among every rank of people, which has multiplied the number of horses in a. high degree •.. '
Marshall, 1, 12.
H. Banister, 123, •' •• so tha.t it is now become a practic&-with those farmers who are curious in their pork, to feed their hogs
on pease and barle;v meal'; 144, 'The most proper food for these shoots (young pigs) is barley-meal, mixed up with
water ••. and this IS the reason why millers pork is generally preferred to what is fattened by the husbandman.'
I. Boys, op. cit., 97, 'A winter barley has been lately introduced about Ashford ..• for spring food for ewes and lambs.'
This passage, being within brackets, is an addition to the first publication of 1796, nevertheless, it is possible that a very
small a.mount may have been used for this purpose.
J. Boys, op. cit., 186, 'When hog-corn, suoh as beans and pease •.• '
K. Banister, op. cit., 446.
L. Banister, op. cit., 422, feed for couples, i.e. mother and lamb.
M. Using the avoirdupois weight for a bushel of:Bour of 56 lb. ; barley, 66 lb.; oats, 42 lb.; I have employed the bushel
-weht of wheat as 62·08 lb., being the average given in his purchase ledger for 1761-2 year which compares with the
a.vo!l'dupois weight of 63 lb. ; for dogs' meat I have employed 60 lb.; for the year 1783 I have employed the bushel
weight of wheat a.a 62·81 lb., according to hie ledger.
N. Only one oustomer, a Mrs. Turner, required this service.
0. Employing the total a.mount of miller's wheat grain processed in the year according to the purchase ledger entries,
stock at beginning and end of year, and allowing for wheat sold without processing.
P. Some 80 per cent. of all barley was sold in the six months November-April inclusive suggesting that it was used for
winter feeding and not brewing. Approximately 50 per cent. was sold in the three months December, January and
February.
Q. There is a. single entry of 'oat hulls' which bas been ignored as a. refinement.
FIG. 2 (Part Two).
[/acep.116
AN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY CORN WATERMILL
It is a coincidence in the later ledger that the years 1782-4 produced
unusually poor harvests and that there was a general scarcity of food.
In 1782 the imports of wheat were the largest yet known. 3 Of the three
years covered by this ledger only 1782 and 1783 are fully accounted for
and one of th&e, 1782, shows an unusually low total domestic demand
which, combined with the relatively high prevailing prices was probably
the result of the ba.d harvest. Under these circumstances, 1783 ha been
chosen.
In the early ledger, the last five years of mill production were
substantially increased by the appearance of middlemen associated with
the Seven Years War. The amount of grain bought by the miller in 1755
was surprisingly higher than the previous three years, and one cannot
help wondering if the growing hostilities before the outbreak of war
stimulated the normal demand to this high, apparently unrealistic
figure. Of the remaining three years, 1751-2, has been chosen for
analysis for two reasons, primarily because the earliest available year
has the advantage of magnifying the trends and changes in corn-milling
that occurred between the two analysis points and, secondly, because
the year 1751-2 ha.d an average grain cost which was between the low
average grain cost of 1753-4 and high average grain cost of 1752-3,
i.e. which would suggest an average harvest.
A comparison between the two ledgers reveals several outstanding
facts. The total amount of grinding done by the mill in 1783 was twice
that done in 1751. See Fig. 3. This substantial increase is attributable to
two causes:
(a) An increase in the number of domestic customers, especially
permanent, together with a slight increase in wheat bought per
customer;
(b) Work on the barley-stone doubled, due to a sixfold increase in
the throughput of oats and the appearance of hogcorn, beans
and peas. This growth in the production of animal feeds is
probably caused by an increase in the practice of keeping
horses and hogs.
The grinding of customers' wheat, which in 1751/2 was negligible
being some 2½ per cent. of all wheat ground, increased nearly twentyfold
by 1783 when it represented some 45 per cent. of all wheat ground.
Clearly by 1783 more customers found it cheaper not to buy grain
direct from the miller. Allowing for a certain number of farming families
who grew their own wheat, it is probable that the majority of customers
bought direct from the farmers, though near large towns a middleman
may have performed this function.
In 1751-2 only two refinements of wheat were sold, but by 1783
8 Lord Ernle, English Farming Paet and Present, Sixth Edition, 1961, 267.
117
AN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY CORN WATERMILL
Throughput of Gro..in and Pulse, 1783
Wheat Stone
Miller's Grain 73,392
Customer's Grain 59,668
Total 133,060 lb.
Barley Stone
Barley
Oats
Hogcorn
Beans
Peas
Total
Throughput of Grain and Pulse, 1751/2
Wheat Stone
Miller's Grain
Customer's Grain
Total
52,724
1,552
54,276 lb.
FIG. 3.
Barley
Oats
Barley Stone
Dogs' Meab
Total
19,908
27,447
13,392
2,964
539
64,250 lb.
25,256
4,263
1,650
31,169 lb.
seven refinements (including three types of offal) were produced. Fig. 4
shows the relative proportions of these refinements obtained from the
grain.
In the early ledger there are several entries of'@ twice' or'@ three
times' related to middlings or, in rare cases, barley. There is even one
entry of 'Stranger at several times'. This I take to mean grinding t-he
grain more than once, though I cannot reconcile the charges with the
number of passes.
An examination of the names of the domestic customers and their
trading frequency suggest that they are divisible into two sections,
permanent and temporary. The difference behveen the two categories
is not easily defined for many permanent customers occasionally
lapsed into buying irregular amounts at irregular intervals. I have,
however, assumed the temporary classification when the person has
not appeared for such a duration as to suggest that he must have visited
another mill for his needs.
The total number of customers of the mill apparently fluctuated
considerably. In 1751-2, the figure was close to 60, but by 1758-9 this
had dropped to 40. The temporary custom in each case was just over
one-third of the total. It is not surprising, therefore, that only about
one-fifth of all the customers of 1758-9 are to be found in the list of
1751-2. In the later ledger the total number of customers was close to
90, of which some 20 per cent. were of a temporary nature. This high
118
AN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY OORN WATERMILL
1751
Middlings
Seconds
Rema.inderA
Grain
Refinement of Wheat by Weight
74%
12%
14%
100%
1783
Fine Flour
Coarse Flour
Headers
Meal
Pollard
Bran
Hulls
Grain
½%
35%
19%
15%
13½%
16%
1%
100%
A. Established by comparing the wheat bought and processed (purchase ledger}
with that sold (sales ledger).
Flo. 4.
percentage of temporary custom suggests the close proximity of other
corn mills. In fact, six water-mills and one windmill were operating
between one and two miles of Fairbourne Mill.
During the account year of 1751-2 there were four customers who
regularly bought la.rge amounts of flour. Together they bought some
29,512 lb. of flour in the year, representing some 56 per cent. of the total
domestic sales. Two of them appear in the account for party ear consecutively
so that effectively, there. were three people at one time who
were each ta.king an average of nearly 30 lb. of flour a day. These
people were probably bakers. They normally bought 2 or 4 bushels
(112 lb. or 224 lb.) every four or eight days.
The majority of customers made very regular calls to the mill
usually once every seven or fourteen days. No doubt these visits were
coincident with baking days. A small number of people, probably
locals, called at irregular intervals of one to eight days.
For the purpose of this analysis, I have used, as the limit of domestic
purchase, one sack of flour or meal. Although this represents by
contemporary measure some 280 lb., it is significant that the common
farm-house bread recipe of East Kent called for a bushel of meal
(56 lb.) at a time.4
' . .. to a bushel of meal, add a pint of good yeast well mixed with two
or three gallons of warm water, stir the whole well together, and
let it work six or eight hours before it is put into the oven.'
In the autumn of 1756, there occurs for the first time a large
delivery of flour. The Purchase Ledger shows the following entry:
'August 24 1756 Charriage of 24 Sacks of 2d to Chatham and
' Boys, op. eit., 97.
119
.AN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY OORN WATERILML
Brompton 4 water & 3 land Carriage
Fullar Carriage to Maidstone
The Sales Ledger shows a corresponding entry:
0. 14. o.
0. 6. 0.'
'Aug. 23 & 24 delivere'd 24 Sacks of 2<1 to Maidstone in order to
go 10 Sacks to Mr. John Eales of Brompton and 14 Sacks to Mr.
John Halfhead of Chatham 318 pr Sack 37. 4. O.'
Following this item large deliveries became regular with carriage
and cartage costs entered into the accounts. Unfortunately, not all
the destinations are recorded, but it is quite clear that the majority
went to Chatham.
In the buying section of the year October, 1758 to October, 1759,
there is an entry:
'Warter and Cartage of 284 Sacks of Flour to Chatham at,
2d pr Sa.ck 8. 5. 8.'
Similarly at the end of the October, 1759 to October, 1760 section:
'Water & Cartage of 193 Sacks of Flour to Chatham at 7<1 pr
Sack 5. 4. 3.
Water & Factorage of Midlings & Course Flour to London
1. 11. l'
There is little doubt that the names appearing in the Sales section
for many of these large entries were victualling agents. In 1756 the
Seven Years War broke out in Europe and there was fear of a French
invasion. England's navy was rapidly prepared and tenders for wheat
and flour invited by the victualling offices of the ports. In the atmosphere
of near-panic that swept England, this small isolated country
mill contributed by raising her normal domestic output twofold and
in 1758-9 by threefold. Such was the potential of the corn-milling
industry! Clearly, this mill normally worked well under capacity. One
wonders how many of the numerous corn wind- and water-mills that
existed were extracting a living at such low working capacity. Perhaps
only the rural mills, supporting scattered village populations where
transport was at a premium, existed in this state.
Certain of the large customers, particularly those of London, may
have been urban mealmen and chandlers.
In Fig. 5 the domestic demand, i.e. excluding all middlemen and
victualling agents, for all wheat refinements has been established by
comparing the value of the middlemen sales to the total sales {income).
The disadvantage of employing a value basis is that middlemen sales
only included flour whereas domestic sales included flour and offals . .As
offals represent some 30 per cent. of whea throughput {from l 783
entries) and generally command a price of not more than one-ninth of
flour prices, the result of employing a value basis is to slightly decrease
the true domestic grain demand. So, the figures given for column 5 from
120
AN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY CORN WATERMILL
Miller's GrainA
Approx.% of Throughput of
Throughput by Miller's Grain
Account Bought and Total Profit Value Attribu- for
Year Sold (£ s. d.) table to Domestic
(Bushels) Middlemen or Consumption
Victualling Agents (Bushels)
1751-2 1063·3 90 0 4½ 0 1063·3
J752-3 1206 93 8 01- 0 1206
1753-4 1023 125 5 0 0 1023
1764-6 1774 99 8 0 0 1774
1755-6 2367 160 15 0 22 1815
176!>-7 2634 206 11 2 41 1654
1767-S 2774·5 142 0 3¾ 61 1074•5
1758-9 3280·5 139 7 11¾ 65 1145·3
1759-60 2661 150 1 6½ 62 1276
1782 778 110 13 7½ 0 778
1783 1176•50 111 4 6 0 1176•6
178413
approx.
997 Unknown 0?
approx.
997
A. Taken from purchase entries allowing for stock a.t beginning and end of
financial year.
B. Approximately three weeks' sales accounts a.re missing from the ledger.
C. A comparison between this and the sales records as embodied in Fig. 2 reveals
an error of approximately I per cent.
FIG. 5.
1755..:t3 to 1759-60 a.re a fraction higher han they should be. Notwithstanding
the inaccuracy, it is clear that the total domestic demand for
wheat refinements fluctuated considerably from year to year. The first
few years of the Seven Years War appear to have stimulated consumption
and ea.used a substantial increase in domestic demand.
Perhaps other mills nearby improved their output to exploit the war
effort and discouraged their local custom in favour of a large market in
the ports. From 1757-8 to 1759-60, the domestic demand is comparable
to the pre-war figures, and suggests a normal level of 1,100 to 1,150
bushel., a year.
INooME, EXPENDITURE .AND PROFIT
The prices of flour and offal refinements quite naturally moved in
increments of 8d. per bushel, for domestic consumption employed pecks
121
12
AN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY CORN WATERMILL
a.nd gallons. Employment of an octonal pricing system ha.d the distinct
disadvantage of inflexibility. The refinement prices could not respond
to the gradual changes in grain prices which inevitably occurred from
harvest to harvest and applied to different quality grains. Thus the
miller's profit depended largely on his ability to regulate flour prices in
relation to current grain prices a.nd, to a lesser extent, his securing the
lowest grain prices. Some consideration ha-d to be given to nearby mill
prices for a considerable number of his customers were within easy
reach of other mills.
Obviously, it was not in his interest to raise or lower his flour prices
as often as his grain prices changed. To have done so would have
subjected his customers to very irregular and continual price changes.
They would, no doubt, have looked elsewhere for less erratic prices. At
best, the miller could check his profits at regular intervals during the
year by comparing the value of sales and purchases. Apparently, he did
not do this. No relationship can be detected between total income an.d
total expenditure except, strangely, that his profit per bushel processed
was generally inversely proportional to the total throughput. Reference
to Fig. 5 shows that the profit had little relationship to the total
throughput, e.g. in the ledger year 1758-9 the miller proce&sed three
times more of his own grain than he did in 1753-4 and yet his profit
increased by only some 10 per cent. Apparently, he was quite unable to
regulate flour pricei:; to grain prices and consequently, gave himself little,
indeed in many cases, no reward for the tremendous efforts during the
war years. It is significant that, in 1758-9, he changed his flour prices
twelve times at irregular intervals, giving ample opportunity for profit
review. Yet, although his throughput was some 18 per cent. higher than
the previous year his total profit was less ..
122
