ALVATIA: Ingsby - Mill

ALVATIA: City of Wedburgh

The Mill at Ingsby

Along the banks of the Ive, a hundred yards or so upstream from the Great Bridge, is the mill.

Weir

A weir (a small overflow dam) of timber and stone, 80 feet wide and 10 feet high in the middle, blocks the Ive here; water cascades in a smooth, heavy curve over the top and continues on its way.

Millpond

The millpond behind the weir is almost 200 feet long, and about 8 feet deep. Its gently sloping banks are heavily lined with reeds, extending sometimes 30 feet from the open water; muddy footpaths among the reeds on the south bank mark places where villagers fish in the pond, or have come to cut reeds.

Millrace

The millrace, a stone and log lined channel about 4 feet wide and 90 feet long, runs from one side of the pond, under the wheel, and back into the Ive below the weir. The cold, clear water rushing through the race drives the undershot wheel. A timber sluice gate, with a counterweight made from a broken millstone, controls the flow of water into the millrace.

Seasonal Changes

After a heavy rain, the water cascading over the weir doubles and redoubles to a tumbling, foamy cataract carrying brush and logs downstream. The mill pond rarely freezes. In some dry summers, the entire flow of the Ive passes through the millrace, and the top of the weir is exposed; water from the pond will still leak and squirt from the face of the weir.

Mill Croft

The mill sits in a small, poorly-maintained croft of only a quarter acre or so. A dilapidated chicken coop sags in the middle of the croft.

Mill Exterior

The mill itself is a half-timbered, thatch roofed, L-shaped building, roughly 50 feet long by 40 feet from front to pond-side. Its walls are made of heavy timber framing; some openings are filled with rubble and mortar, others with the more typical wattle and daub. All of the floors are of hard-packed dirt. The "east wing" (40 feet long by 13 feet wide)contains the miller's family quarters; the "west wing" (27 feet by 37 feet) holds the mill itself.

Facing the village, away from the pond, is a wide double door in the west wing; a broad single door opens on the west side of the east wing; another, ordinary sized, door opens in the middle of the east wall. There are shuttered windows at the north and west gable ends of the building, plus two on the east side. Reeds grow along the millrace, almost up to the east end of the building. The noise of water flowing over the weir and through the millrace is always present. When the mill is grinding grain, the heavy creaking and shuddering of the wooden wheel and gears mix with the scraping noise of the millstones.

Two holes, each a foot square and 4 feet deep, have been dug 13 feet from the south ends of the east wing, announcing plans to expand the mill. The holes are mostly filled with water, however, and progress seems to have come to a halt lately. Sometimes, the holes are covered with flat rocks, to prevent people and animals from stepping in them and breaking a leg.

West Wing

The west wing is a single large room; large double doors open into the croft, and an interior door leads to the miller's family quarters in the east wing. The axles, gears, and stones of the mill take up the north half of this room; a fine coating of dust and flour coats all the horizontal surfaces. A small statue of Saint Carmund sits on a bracket over the double doors, facing into the room. A shuttered window in the west (gable) wall admits some light. Hanging from a ceiling beam, just inside the door, is the miller's scale. Smaller measures and tools hang from wooden pegs on the walls.

East Wing

The east wing is laid out as a typical three bay cottage, with the byre at the south end divided from the rest of the building by a wattle and daub wall. The center bay is the hall, with a central hearth; the north bay is the pantry/buttery below, and a loft above. An interior wall divides the west and east wings, with a single door opening into the hall.

Three short wicker walls divide the byre into four stalls, in one of which is stored a wheelbarrow, three brooms, two buckets, and several empty barrels of various sizes. The other three stalls have simple wooden feed-bins. The floors of the stalls are thick with mud and manure; the east wing reeks of it. Stored on planks across the byre's roof beams are some of the miller's food supply, broken tools or furniture, some bits of lumber, and other items. A crude ladder leads from the hall up to this dim, dusty loft.

The hall itself, in the middle of the east wing, is 13 feet on a side. A door, with a stone threshold, and two shuttered windows look out to the east from this room; ladders lead up to the loft over the byre (south) and over the pantry (north). A flimsy door in the west wall, near its north end, opens between the hall and the mill room. A stone floor hearth in the center of the room sends smoke (more or less) up through a hole at the peak of the thatched roof; a ceramic firestopper is stored behind a bench chest. A few more pieces of lumber are stored on the roof beams. Three stools, three bench chests, and a trestle table, take up much of the space in this room; all are more than usually rickety. Fresh reeds are scattered on the floor every few days by the miller's wife. In the evening a few candles are available to pierce the dusty gloom -- by day, the firehole in the roof ridge, the open door, and the two windows, allow beams of sunlight to appear in the dusty indoors air.

The pantry and buttery take up the northern end of the east wing. They are surprisingly bare, with nets, buckets, tubs and shelves holding only a minimal amount of food. The loft above, reached from the hall by a wooden ladder, contains two chests, one with a simple padlock keeping it closed. Bits of clothing and bedding lie on the floorboards; a shuttered window looks out over the millpond.

Mill Residents

Laurence Miller

The miller, Laurence (age 38), is a tall, thin man, with a deeply lined face and heavy stubble. The distrust shown by the villagers has made him bitter and mean-spirited in turn. Laurence has become a miser; he does not give short measure, but gouges the villagers in more subtle ways. His younger sister, Miriam, is the baker's second wife.

Eleanor Miller

His wife, Eleanor (age 30), is quiet and shy. She is from [A NEARBY VILLAGE], and travels there from time to time to visit relatives. While the village folk of Ingsby like her enough, her husband's spiteful nature ensure that few persons linger at the mill.

Jemima Miller

A daughter, Jemima (age 15), is on the verge of being married to Conrad, son of Julian the reeve. She is resentful of her father, and glad to get out of the house.

Robert Miller

A younger child, Robert (age 12), is a carefree youth -- and thus often the target of his father's wrath.

Mill Transients

(none)

Mill Economy

Annual Income

• fees from milling 466 d
• value of food, dairy, etc. produced on croft 20 d
• other income 20 d
  • total income 506 d

Annual Expenses

• repairs to the mill and weir 50 d
• feeding 4 persons on "bread" diet 183 d
• taxes, rent, etc. 48 d
• tithes on cash income 24 d
  • total expenses 305 d

Thus household discretionary income is 201 d per annum. Laurence has saved 240 d, kept in the locked chest in the loft. He owns a rusty sword and helmet, and a cheap shield, in bare compliance with the king's law. Jemima has saved 20 d of her own, kept hidden under a basket in the storage loft. The goods and furnishings of the mill have a total value of 60 d; the mill itself, with weir and grinding machinery, is worth 1800 d.

The mill charges 5% (one measure in twenty) of the grain ground.