Joy to the Mill Trivia Quiz

Answer: Sails

They are called sails, and when the mill was in operation they were covered in canvas to give maximum wind resistance. They could also be tilted, and the whole top tower turned in order to take advantage of the wind no matter which direction it came from.

The turning and the spreading of the canvas all had to be done manually. Once the sails were turning, they operated the mill stones that ground the grain to produce the flour. The mill stones could also be adjusted to give different qualities of flour.

The manor house or abbey would usually have the best quality finely ground flour, while the local workers had to settle for a far coarser product. The miller was normally paid by the sackful of flour.

Answer: Kilns

Kilns come in all shapes and sizes; these in the picture are called bottle kilns. Fuel (usually wood) is put in the bottom, and the shaped clay items are then put into the opening. It is then sealed up, and the clay is 'fired'. This involves subjecting it to high heat for several hours. Knowing how long to leave the items and at what heat they had to kept was a definite art, and the kiln had to be attended all the time.

At the end of the process the kiln was opened and the items removed. In the early days, a lot of trial and error was involved, and this only increased once potters discovered multi-coloured glazes. Now, of course, kilns are either gas or electric, the firing times are well-known and it is usually just a case of setting a timer.

Answer: Tin Mine

Although there is evidence of tin mining in Cornwall going back to Roman times, it was in the 18th and early 19th centuries that mining reached a peak. It was a highly hazardous occupation, as many of the mines stretched out under the sea and were also very deep. Most of the ruined buildings that can be seen dotted across the Cornish landscape were pumping stations.

The mines had to be constantly pumped because of flooding. By the mid 1800s the tin mines were starting to close and Cornish miners went overseas, where their expertise was much in demand.

Although tin remained to be mined, the cost of getting it out of the ground had become greater than the profits from selling it.

Answer: Mill Race

Water wheels need a fairly powerful flow of water to operate. This was usually achieved by damming a flowing stream and creating two channels of water. One provides the power for the wheel, while the other is for water leaving the wheel. These are known as the headrace and the tailrace.

The collective term is the mill race. Water wheels powered mills for grinding flour, forges, grinding wood pulp and fibre crushing. Their drawback, however, was that they had to located next to flowing water. Once the benefits of water turbines and then steam power were realised, water wheels soon fell into disuse.

There are some still operating today in living museums, but most are now just pretty architectural features.

Answer: Cottonopolis

It was steam power that allowed Manchester to become the centre of industrialisation and mass production in the cotton industry in England. At its peak, there were 108 mills in Manchester alone, and these spread out to Rochdale, Burnley, Oldham and beyond. Eventually 'Cottonopolis' encompassed over two hundred towns within a twelve mile radius of Manchester. Raw cotton came into Liverpool from America and South Africa, and was transported to the mills by train and by canal.

The mills operated twenty-four hours a day. Workers' housing, cheap back-to-back terraced houses, were built all round the mill sites. Warehouses sprang up to house and display the finished goods, which were sold and exported all over the world.

Answer: An apprentice in the print industry

Before computers and desktop publishing, printing was done by large printing presses. All the type had to be set into a frame manually. The printer's devil was the young apprentice who did everything from mix ink, fetch type, and carry rolls of paper.

In fact, he did any menial task that needed doing. Some famous people were printer's devils at one time, including Mark Twain and Walt Whitman.

Answer: Mercury

In the 18th and 19th centuries, mercury was used in the production of felt, which was used in many hats at the time. Workers in the hat factories were exposed to trace elements of mercury all the time, and over the years this built up in their bodies to the extent that it caused dementia due to mercury poisoning.

This was known as mad hatter syndrome. The phrase 'mad as a hatter' became used colloquially to mean anyone who was insane.

Answer: Barbers also carried out medical procedures

In medieval times, barbers used to perform medical procedures, such as bloodletting and tooth extraction. The red on the pole represented the blood and the white the bandages wrapped round the bloodletting site. The pole was a representation of the long piece of wood gripped by the patient during the bloodletting procedure, which helped the blood flow more freely.

They carried out other small medical procedures as well, such as lancing boils and giving enemas. After the two professions became completely separate entities, barbers continued to use the pole to indicate somewhere that offered shaves and haircuts.

In the USA, blue is often added to the red and white, possibly to reflect the colours of the flag.

Answer: The Black Country

Situated around Birmingham and Wolverhampton, The Black Country was so called because of the air pollution from factory chimneys. During the Industrial Revolution the whole area was noted for coal mines, steelworks and iron foundries. Soot from the numerous chimneys covered the whole area. By Victorian times it probably had more heavy industry than anywhere else in the country, and the coming of the railways, to take the various goods away and deliver raw materials, only added to the pollution. It was said that it was black by day and at night it was red from the glow of the hundreds of furnaces in the factories. Various clean air acts and the decline of heavy industry mean that it is no longer black, but the name has persisted.

Answer: Shoes

A cordwainer made soft leather shoes by hand. They were completely distinct from cobblers, who repaired shoes. Most cordwainers lived and operated in London, England and were controlled by the Worshipful Company of Cordwainers, one of the traditional City Livery Companies.

The name comes from cordovan, which was the soft leather produced in Spain much favoured for shoe-making. For many years there was a College of Cordwainers in London, which trained people in the art of making hand made shoes. Jimmy Choo trained there.

The college was absorbed into the London College of Fashion in 2000. London does have an area in the City of London named 'Cordwainer' which was where most of the craftsmen once lived.