Tide Mills

A ‘tide mill’ is an old-fashioned mill that makes use of a large wheel, which is turned by water. The water comes from the sea tide when it is high. The sea tide flows into an area hollowed out to receive it (called a mill pond) and once it is in, a large gate closes to stop it flowing back out again. On the other side, the tide goes low and so there is a raised body of water.

Then some of the water is let through a gate which slides open in the wall of the dam, the gate is called a sluice. The water flows through the sluice and pushes against paddles on a large water wheel as it flows, and the wheel begins to turn.

The earliest known tide mill in the world was from Roman Britain (43 AD to 409 or 410 AD) and was located in London.

Woodbridge Tide Mill, is an excellent example of what they were like, it survives at Woodbridge, Suffolk, England. This mill, dating from 1170 and reconstructed in 1792, has been preserved and is open to the public. It was further restored in 2010 and re-opened in 2011 in full working order. It is the second working tide mill in the United Kingdom that is regularly producing flour.