Watermill

A mill powered by flowing or falling water, typically through a waterwheel or turbine. Watermills have ground grain and driven machinery such as saws, hammers, and pumps.

Waterwheel: A wheel turned by flowing or falling water to transmit mechanical power. Its blades or buckets capture the water’s force and turn the mill’s drive shaft.
Watermill grain milling: The process of grinding cereal grains into flour or meal. Grinding grain was a widespread use of water-powered machinery.
Perachora watermill: An ancient Greek watermill site near the sanctuary of Hera at Perachora, dating to the third century BCE. Its archaeological remains document an early water-powered grain mill.
Milling: The mechanical processing of materials, especially the grinding of grain into meal or flour. Watermills helped make milling a regular, large-scale service for surrounding communities.
Overshot waterwheel: A waterwheel powered by water delivered near its top, where the water’s weight drives rotation. This efficient wheel suits sites where a mill can direct water onto its upper buckets.
Fulling: A textile-finishing process that cleans and thickens woven wool cloth by working it in liquid. Water-powered fulling mills mechanized the pounding of woolen cloth.
Vitruvius: A Roman architect and engineer whose treatise De architectura describes machines and building practices. His account includes a waterwheel-driven mill, an early written description of the mechanism.
Manorialism: A medieval social and economic system organized around a lord’s estate and dependent laborers. Lords often controlled local mills and required tenants to use them for grinding grain.
Undershot waterwheel: A waterwheel powered by a current that pushes its blades near the bottom of the wheel. It can operate in a river current without directing water over the wheel.
Sawmill: A facility that cuts logs into lumber using mechanical saws. Waterwheels drove saws that converted timber into boards.

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