Summary of articles in International Molinology No 111, which were published in December 2025
‘60 Years of TIMS.’ This piece celebrates the 60th anniversary of the Society, through the thoughts and memories of the six Honorary Members, Yolt Ijzerman, Jorge Miranda, Berthold Moog, Stephanos Nomikos, Willem van Bergen and Tony Bonson.
‘Texas Windmiller’s Legacy Preserving Historic Massachusetts Windmill’ by Christopher Gillis. Previously published in Windmiller’s Gazette, this tells the story of unique Victorian-era windmill built for pumping potable (drinking) water. Twenty-five years ago Mike and Ellen Harde acquired a property containing the remains of the mill and based on a photograph of 1905 were able to have it fully restored by Jim Collums of Poteet, Texas. The 1879 date of the windmill’s installation is recorded in Westford historical records.
‘Lost mills of Hastings, Sussex (UK) and the key role of family history: The Mills and Millers of Hastings and Environs’ by Bob Wilcock. Here, using the example of the windmills on West Hill, Hastings, the author explains his particular approach to mills research. Using genealogical resources, family history societies and websites, he discovers the names of millers leading to the identification of mills (his dictum is “Where there is a miller, there must be a mill”). All the facts in this article are taken from his book ‘The Mills and Millers of Hastings and Environs’ (January 2025).
‘Mills in Romania: Another story to tell’ by Camelia Repede. In Romania, the mill is associated with superstitions originating from the wind, water, stone, grain and corn; all present in the milling process. These are, for Romanians, symbolic elements with many connotations that go back a long way. The author goes on to explore the role of mills in novels, poetry and sayings. The article features watercolour illustrations by Adrian Stoia.
‘A sugar beet mill in 1839, Kainourgio, Thermopylae, Central Greece’ by George Speis. Regular contributor George Speis continues with his theme of the early industrialisation of Greece, influence by the foreign powers who co-governed following independence in 1830. Here he explores a project for a steam-driven sugar-beet mill which followed through planning, construction and “all kinds of problems of gross mismanagement” leading to its ultimate failure.
‘Millstone era in Waterford Harbour, Ireland’ by Andrew Doherty. Previously published in ‘Grist to the Mill’ the author describes the extraction of millstones in the area of Waterford, on the estuary of the ‘Three Sisters’ rivers. Circular dishes or semicircular columns out of which the millstone rough-outs were extracted remain in plain sight on the coastal cliffs. The Old Red sandstones and conglomerates made hard millstones both for local use and export.
Communications articles include ‘Vipmøller’ along the Limfjord in the 17th century’ by Lise Andersen who describes a rare type of small windmill “where the mill was inside the house, with the sails outside” which “the peasants call a vip mill.” This is followed by ‘The windmills of the Crusaders: a documentary void’ by Etienne Rogier who has explored the evidence for windmills on the fortifications of Crusader castles.
The issue continues with a review by Ozsváth Gábor Dániel of the volume ‘Millstones’ edited György Balázs. The book includes János Pozdoray’s work plus other important studies and articles on the millstones of Hungary. An English version is proposed for 2026 publication. Finally, there are two obituaries; the first for Jim Woodward-Nutt, TIMS member and long-standing member of the SPAB Mills Section (UK), serving on the committee as treasurer, and Chairman from 2008-2010. The second is for Pierre Raymond, champion for traditional wheat cultivation and milling in his adopted home country of Colombia. He described these traditional techniques in his article for International Molinology No. 94.