History of corn milling .. - Centrostudirpinia.it

SOME FEUDAL MILLS. 101
And that the owner of the said mills receiveth by the same a good
III.
yearly profit, and maintaineth many millers, carriers, carpenters, and ^^^ MILLS,
other persons in work. And that there are no other water corn CHESTER,
mills or windmills within the liberties of the said city, but only [the
Abbey Mills, viz.] one watermill which standeth upon a little brook,
called the Bach Mill, which often wanteth water, and one wyndemille
which often wanteth wynde. And they say also that about three
years since, during the late visitation of the plague, which continued
in the said city three years together, the inhabitants within the said
city were restrained from grinding their corn at other mills in the
county : 5o that if the said mills of Dee had not been, they should
have been (as they are persuaded) in great danger to have wanted
bread : they also of the country forbearing to come into the city as
they had formerly done before the sickness.*
They further say that in part of the stream of the said corn mills
there was lately built by John Tyrer two wheels with certaine
engynes for the conveyance of water into the said city.
Lastly, they say that the said mills were anciently parcel of the
possessions of the earldom of Chester, and divers of the said mills
have continued time out of mind and were standing, as appears by
divers records in the time of Richard, Earl of Chester, in the year
of our Lord God 11 19. And also in the time of Randle, Earl of
Chester. And that in or late before the time of John, Earl of
Chester, called John de Scotia, the number of the said corn mills
were increased by the building of new mills when the said Earl
the tithes to the abbot of Chester. And that it doth not
granted
appear unto them by any proof or otherwise that any of the said
corn mills now standing were built since that time; but how long
before or when they were built it doth not appear. Saving that
about vij or viij years since the said Edmund Gamull did build one
of the said corn mills. By reason of which mill or by the other two
waterwheels before mentioned [the waterworks wheels] we do not
find the causey to be enhanced or the passage of the water to be
hindered more than before.
And that the Dean and Chapter do now receive ^^5 per annum
in respect of the tithes of the said mills and fishings ; and that the
total profit per annum received by all the mills and the fishings,
causey and waterworks, is ^looo.t
* •'
1603. The 22nd August in the night time a wonderful exhalation of a fiery
colour, likewise a canopy, was seen over this city, and in September following
the great plague began in Chester. Infected persons were taken out of their
houses, and conveyed into houses and cabins at the waterside, near unto the
New Tower.
" 1604. The plague was very hot in Chester, and a great many were sent into
cabins, and a great number of citizens removed into the country. There were
no fairs kept, neither did the watch go on Midsummer Eve.
" 1605. The sickness of plague continued till about the middle of this year.
The total that died of the plague only is about 1313 persons." —Annals of
Chester.
t Regarding the fulling mills across the bridge, the jury state that "they keep
very many in work, to the great furtherance of the trade of clothing in these
parts . . . there being no other fulling mills that they know of in or near
Chester."
20. Public
Benefits,
1608.