The Mills Archive was established in 2002 to preserve and protect records of

mill Mill may refer to: Science and technology * Factory * Mill (grinding) * Milling (machining) * Millwork * Paper mill * Steel mill, a factory for the manufacture of steel * Sugarcane mill * Textile mill * List of types of mill * Mill, the arithmetic ...

ing

heritage Heritage may refer to: History and society * A heritage asset A heritage asset is an item which has value because of its contribution to a nation's society, knowledge and/or culture. Such items are usually physical assets, but some countries also ...

and to make them freely available to the public. It is governed by the Mills Archive Trust, which is a

charity Charity may refer to: Common meanings * Charitable organization or charity, a non-profit organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being of persons * Charity (practice), the practice of being benevolent, giving and sha ...

. It is a nationally accredited

archive An archive is an accumulation of historical records or materials, in any medium, or the physical facility in which they are located. Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual or organ ...

service and is based at

Watlington House Watlington House is a 17th-century building, with a large walled garden, in the town of Reading in the English county of Berkshire. The building is brick built and is reputed to be the oldest surviving secular building in the town. It is a list ...

Reading, Berkshire Reading ( ) is a town and borough in Berkshire, England, and the county town of Berkshire. It is the United Kingdom's largest town, with a combined population of 355,596. Most of Reading built-up area, its built-up area lies within the Borough ...

, England. The archive contains a wealth of photos, documents and artefacts; more than 3 million items, an online catalogue with more than 90,000 records and a specialist library with 6,000 books and journals.

History

The Mills Archive Trust was established in 2002. A grant of £50,000 from the

Heritage Lottery Fund The National Lottery Heritage Fund, formerly the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), distributes a share of National Lottery funding, supporting a wide range of heritage projects across the United Kingdom. History The fund's predecessor bodies were ...

enabled the Archive to launch its internet catalogue in 2003. Other early supporters of the trust included the

Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB) (also known as Anti-Scrape) is an amenity society founded by William Morris, Philip Webb, and others in 1877 to oppose the Victorian restoration, destructive 'restoration' of ancient bu ...

(SPAB), and the Hampshire Mills Group, which donated £200. The Archive was set up in response to an expressed need to preserve and where possible integrate the various threatened sources of information on the windmills and watermills of the UK and the rest of the world. It was hoped to prevent material being lost on the death of a molinologist by creating a suitable repository. The Chairman Dr Ron Cookson was awarded an MBE in the

2012 Birthday Honours The Birthday Honours List 2012 was released on 16 June 2012 in the United Kingdom, on 11 June 2012 in Australia on 4 June 2012 in New Zealand,charitable incorporated organisation A charitable incorporated organisation (CIO) is a Incorporation (business), corporate form of business designed for (and only available to) Charitable organization, charitable organisations in England and Wales. A similar form, with minor differe ...

(Reg no 1155828) in February 2014. In November 2016, the Archive was awarded the status of a Nationally Accredited Archive Service.

Aims

The Archive aims to focus on (but not be totally restricted to) traditional mills and milling, and seeks to acquire relevant historical and contemporary documentary and illustrative material and small artefacts. The main initial priority is records relating to UK mills, millers and

millwright A millwright is a craftsman or skilled tradesman who installs, dismantles, maintains, repairs, reassembles, and moves machinery in factories, power plants, and construction sites. The term ''millwright'' (also known as ''industrial mechanic'') ...

s, chiefly during the 18th–21st centuries, but the Archive plans to extend its coverage worldwide. "Traditional mills" include mills, similar structures and industrial processes that are or were powered by wind, water, muscle or other power sources, but not the massive modern industrial mills used for steel production and similar large-scale industrial enterprises. "Milling" includes millwrighting and the place of the mill in social and economic as well as technological and architectural history.

Collections and services

The Mills Archive was originally set up to care for four historically important Foundation Collections: those belonging to the SPAB, Mildred Cookson,

Ken Major John Kenneth Major ARIBA, FSA, popularly known as Ken Major (21 October 1928 – 25 July 2009) was an architect, author and world authority on industrial archaeology, particularly windmills, watermills and animal-powered machines. As an autho ...

and Alan Stoyel. Since its establishment it has been given more than 250 further collections, both large and small. The Archive currently holds more than 3,000,000 items, most of which can be freely inspected by appointment at the Research Centre at Watlington House. It
catalogue
is free to use, contains some 80,000 records and is rapidly expanding. The Archive also maintains a library containing more than 3,000 books on mills, in various languages. Most have been added to th
online library catalogue
Apart from its wide use as a source of information about mills and their machinery in archival documents, books and journals, the Mills Archive has become a focus for family history researchers. More information can be found on the Archive'
main website

References

{{Architecture of England 2002 establishments in the United Kingdom Clubs and societies in England Architecture in England Architectural history Charities based in Berkshire Organizations established in 2002 Watermills in the United Kingdom Windmills in the United Kingdom