5700 x 3800 px | 48,3 x 32,2 cm | 19 x 12,7 inches | 300dpi
Data acquisizione:
2009
Ubicazione:
Old Millstones at Stanage edge Derbyshire,peak district national park,England,UK.
Altre informazioni:
Millstone production, along with lead mining, was one of the main Medieval industries of the Peak District. While the millstones were made all along the East Moors and an isolated production site is known on the western flanks of Kinder, the two main centres of production were above Hathersage and Baslow.Production started at least as early as the 14th century, reaching its peak in the late-16th and 17th centuries with the break in supply of French imports due to political unrest on the continent. They then ceased in the early-19th century.The domed millstone quarries at Gardom’s Edge above Baslow are particularly important, with multiple small quarry faces and delves, complex access tracks, quarryman’s sheds and many abandoned millstones.Traditionally the stones were quarried by individual masons, each making about 16 pairs per year. When one broke during manufacture this would represent a significant loss of income. Although some millstones were undoubtedly taken into the Derwent Valley for local use, the majority were transported eastwards to inland ports at Bawtry and Stainforth, to be shipped via Hull for distribution to other regions of Britain.Defoe, writing in the early-18th century, described millstone being transported across the moors in pairs, by putting an axle through their central holes and rolling them like wheels.The main reasons for the decline of this industry is thought to be that when it became fashionable to eat white bread, Peak District stones were not suitable, because they turned the flour an unpalatable grey colour!
