Editing Watermill (section)

==== Middle Ages ====
{{Further|List of early medieval watermills}}
[[Image:Medieval mill with undershot wheel.png|thumb|right|Medieval watermill]]
[[File:Shipmills, Martyrdom of St Ursula at Cologne (detail).jpg|thumb|250px|German [[ship mill]]s on the [[Rhine]], around 1411]]

The surviving evidence for watermills sharply increases with the emergence of documentary genres such as [[Monastery|monastic]] [[charter]]s, Christian [[hagiography]] and Germanic [[legal code]]s. These were more inclined to address watermilling, a mostly rural work process, than the [[Classical antiquity|ancient]] urban-centered literary class had been.<ref>{{harvnb|Wikander|2000|pp=372f.}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Wilson|2002|p=3}}</ref> By [[Carolingian dynasty|Carolingian]] times, references to watermills had become "innumerable" in Frankish records.<ref name="Wikander 1985, 170, 45">{{harvnb|Wikander|1985|p=170, fn. 45}}</ref> The [[Domesday Book]], compiled in 1086, records 5,624 watermills in [[Norman England|England]] alone.<ref>{{harvnb|Gimpel|1977|pp=11–12}}</ref> Later research estimates a less conservative number of 6,082 that should be considered a minimum as the northern reaches of England were never properly recorded.<ref>{{harvnb|Langdon|2004|pp=9–10}}</ref> In 1300, this number had risen to between 10,000 and 15,000.<ref>{{harvnb|Langdon|2004|pp=11}}</ref> By the early 7th century, watermills were also well established in [[Ireland]]. A century later they began to spread across the former Roman Rhine and Danube frontier into the other parts of [[Germany]].<ref>{{harvnb|Wikander|2000|p=400}}</ref> [[Ship mill]]s and [[tide mill]]s, both of which yet unattested for the ancient period,<ref>{{harvnb|Wikander|2000|pp=379 & 383f.}}</ref> were introduced in the 6th century.

; Tide mills

In recent years, a number of new archaeological finds has consecutively pushed back the date of the earliest tide mills, all of which were discovered on the [[Ireland|Irish]] coast: A 6th century [[Water wheel#Types|vertical-wheeled]] tide mill was located at Killoteran near [[Waterford]].<ref name="Murphy 2005">{{harvnb|Murphy|2005}}</ref> A twin flume [[Water wheel#Types|horizontal-wheeled]] tide mill dating to c. 630 was excavated on [[Little Island, Cork|Little Island]].<ref name="Wikander 1985, 155–157">{{harvnb|Wikander|1985|pp=155–157}}</ref><ref name="Rynne 2000, 10, fig. 1.2; 17; 49">{{harnvb|Rynne|2000|pp=10, fig. 1.2; 17; 49}}</ref> Alongside it, another tide mill was found which was powered by a vertical undershot wheel.<ref name="Wikander 1985, 155–157"/><ref name="Rynne 2000, 10, fig. 1.2; 17; 49"/> The [[Nendrum Monastery mill]] from 787 was situated on an island in [[Strangford Lough]] in [[Northern Ireland]]. Its millstones are 830&nbsp;mm in diameter and the horizontal wheel is estimated to have developed {{convert|7/8|HP|W}} at its peak. Remains of an earlier mill dated at 619 were also found at the site.<ref>{{harvnb|McErlean|Crothers|2007}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.nendrum.utvinternet.com/tmill/ |title=Recently discovered Tide Mill from 787 AD at Nendrum Monastic Site |access-date=2008-04-10 |archive-date=2007-09-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927225336/http://www.nendrum.utvinternet.com/tmill/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

; Survey of industrial mills

In a 2005 survey the scholar Adam Lucas identified the following first appearances of various industrial mill types in Western Europe. Noticeable is the preeminent role of France in the introduction of new innovative uses of waterpower.  However, he has drawn attention to the dearth of studies of the subject in several other countries.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;" cellpadding="2"
|- style="background: #ececec;"
!colspan="12" | '''First Appearance of Various Industrial Mills in Medieval Europe, AD 770-1443''' <ref>Adam Robert Lucas, 'Industrial Milling in the Ancient and Medieval Worlds. A Survey of the Evidence for an Industrial Revolution in Medieval Europe', ''Technology and Culture'', Vol. 46, (Jan. 2005), pp. 1-30 (17).</ref>
|-
!'''Type of mill'''
! '''Date'''
! '''Country'''
|-
|Malt mill
|770
|France
|-
|[[Fulling mill]]
|1080
|France
|-
|Tanning mill
|c. 1134
|France
|-
|Forge mill
|ca. 1200
|England, France
|-
|Tool-sharpening mill
|1203
|France
|-
|Hemp mill
|1209
|France
|-
|Bellows
|1269, 1283
|Slovakia, France
|-
|[[Paper mill]]<ref name="Burns 1996, 417f.">{{harvnb|Burns|1996|pp=417f.}}</ref>
|1282
|Spain
|-
|[[Sawmill]]
|c. 1300
|France
|-
|Ore-crushing mill
|1317
|Germany
|-
|[[Blast furnace]]
|1384
|France
|-
|Cutting and [[slitting mill]]
|1443
|France
|-
|}