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Estimate for a corn mill (Courtesy Badminton Estate D2700 QP4/5/2)
When required, estates would fund specialist buildings, such as sawmills, watermills and windmills. This document from the Badminton estate details the costs involved to build a corn mill in 1766 and was prepared by Mr Carther, a Bristol based millwright. This mill was to be a windmill, as one of the entries is for ‘4 sail cloths’ costing £12 (about £1,200 today). The mill tower was to be 30-something feet high and 14 feet in diameter and use a pair of ‘French stones’ costing £35 (£3,500 today to grind the corn). The ‘French stones’ were probably French Burrstones; a composite grinding stone, made up from blocks of chert in a cement matrix held in place by shrink-fit iron bands. Despite being more expensive than the traditional solid Derbyshire ‘Grey’ stones, they were popular because they needed less re-cutting than solid ‘Grey’ stones and were less prone to discolour the flour, resulting in a much whiter product. They were named ‘French stones’ because originally they came from the Marne Valley in northern France, although some were also manufactured in England. The whole mill was priced at over £230 (around £24,000 today); a considerable investment.
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