Until the industrialisation of towns and the depopulation of the countryside, the miller was of vital importance in the local community, providing the chief element of the diet of the entire Scottish population.
In ‘The Scottish Country Miller’ the author discusses in detail the origins of milling, the social context of the miller, as well as the technical aspects of the industry. Her research is based not only on a wide variety of written records (including those from milling companies, local parishes and engineering firms), but also on extensive fieldwork, such as interviews with those who worked, or whose families worked as millers in the days when millers were still of key significance in the rural economy.
Contents:
Preface
Abbreviations
1. Diet: The Product of the Mill
2. Abbey, Town and Barony: The Origins of the Mill
3. Thirlage: Service to the Mill
4. Landowners: Ownership of the Mill
5. Millstones: The Heart of the Mill
6. Water: The Power of the Mill
7. Early Technology: The Machinery of the Mill
8. Millwrights: The Genius of the Mill
9. Later Technology: Improvements to the Mill
10. The Unpopular Miller: The Isolation of the Mill
11. The 18th Century Miller’s Life: Routing at the Mill
12. Rents and Repairs for the Mill
13. The 19th Century Miller
Bibliography
Index
