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74-616: Nether Mill or the Nethermiln of Kilbirnie was originally the Barony of Kilbirnie corn mill and later became a meal mill as well, located in the Parish of Kilbirnie , near Kilbirnie Loch , North Ayrshire , south-west Scotland . The present ruins date from at least the start of the 20th century with structural evidence for at least three phases of development that finally ceased when the mill closed and abandoned c.  1938 . The mill

148-466: A retting pond for preparing flax, if, like the Stonyholm Mill, Nether Mill had retted flax at some point in its working life, possibly for Stonyholm. The 1909 mill race running from the mill pond to the mill was larger and a building, possibly a cottage, lying to the south of the mill race nearly parallel to the lane had been built close to the earth mound that stands next to the path. By 1895

222-480: A burial mound, in the 1845 New Statistical Account of Ayrshire. In Scotland, barrows or cairns of many types were in common use for burials from the late Neolithic until the end of the Bronze Age . The mound in 1845 was 18 yards in length, 9 yards wide and 6 yards in height. Local belief regarded it as a tumulus, however it may have been formed by excavation between it and the adjoining bank to provide material for

296-488: A funerary urn filled with burnt bones, but none with a tumulus or mound over them. George Dickie, corn miller at Nether Mill, died on May 6, 1859, of old age and is buried at Kilbirnie Kirk. His father, Alastair Dickie, was also a corn miller and was married to Margaret Craufurd. Thirlage was the feudal law by which the laird could require all those farmers living on his lands to bring their grain to his barony mill to be ground. Additionally, they had to carry out repairs on

370-399: A large head compared to other types of wheel which usually means significant investment in constructing the headrace. Sometimes the final approach of the water to the wheel is along a flume or penstock , which can be lengthy. A backshot wheel (also called pitchback ) is a variety of overshot wheel where the water is introduced just before the summit of the wheel. In many situations, it has

444-471: A levelling pond en route. The miller's dwelling originally doubled as a small farm with a garden, stabling and a few acres of land. Most millers had a second occupation in between the busy post-harvest times when the majority of milling took place. At Millmannoch near Coylton for instance the miller also worked as a blacksmith when milling was not required. Nether Mill was the property of the Earl of Glasgow in

518-446: A mill pond, which is formed when a flowing stream is dammed . A channel for the water flowing to or from a water wheel is called a mill race . The race bringing water from the mill pond to the water wheel is a headrace ; the one carrying water after it has left the wheel is commonly referred to as a tailrace . Waterwheels were used for various purposes from things such as agriculture to metallurgy in ancient civilizations spanning

592-544: A poem by Antipater of Thessalonica , which praises it as a labour-saving device (IX, 418.4–6). The motif is also taken up by Lucretius (ca. 99–55 BC) who likens the rotation of the waterwheel to the motion of the stars on the firmament (V 516). The third horizontal-axled type, the breastshot waterwheel, comes into archaeological evidence by the late 2nd century AD context in central Gaul . Most excavated Roman watermills were equipped with one of these wheels which, although more complex to construct, were much more efficient than

666-449: A reversible water wheel was by Georgius Agricola and dates to 1556. As in all machinery, rotary motion is more efficient in water-raising devices than oscillating motion. In terms of power source, waterwheels can be turned by either human respectively animal force or by the water current itself. Waterwheels come in two basic designs, either equipped with a vertical or a horizontal axle. The latter type can be subdivided, depending on where

740-414: A vertical axle. Commonly called a tub wheel , Norse mill or Greek mill , the horizontal wheel is a primitive and inefficient form of the modern turbine. However, if it delivers the required power then the efficiency is of secondary importance. It is usually mounted inside a mill building below the working floor. A jet of water is directed on to the paddles of the water wheel, causing them to turn. This

814-484: A water wheel. The mechanical engineer Ma Jun (c. 200–265) from Cao Wei once used a water wheel to power and operate a large mechanical puppet theater for the Emperor Ming of Wei ( r. 226–239). The technological breakthrough occurred in the technologically developed Hellenistic period between the 3rd and 1st century BC. A poem by Antipater of Thessalonica praised the water wheel for freeing women from

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888-440: Is a coarse-ground edible part of various grains mainly used as an animal feed whilst corn milling produces a fine flour for baking purposes. The framework of the suspended iron mid-breast water wheel survives, 3ft wide by 18ft diameter (0.91m by 5.49m). The buckets and sole may have been of sheet iron and the unusual internal drive to the mill was via an internal cast iron gear ring on the wheel itself. Breastshot water wheels have

962-407: Is a simple system usually without gearing so that the vertical axle of the water wheel becomes the drive spindle of the mill. A stream wheel is a vertically mounted water wheel that is rotated by the water in a water course striking paddles or blades at the bottom of the wheel. This type of water wheel is the oldest type of horizontal axis wheel. They are also known as free surface wheels because

1036-597: Is assumed that the scientists of the Museum of Alexandria , at the time the most active Greek research center, may have been involved in its invention. An episode from the Alexandrian War in 48 BC tells of how Caesar's enemies employed geared waterwheels to pour sea water from elevated places on the position of the trapped Romans. Around 300 AD, the noria was finally introduced when the wooden compartments were replaced with inexpensive ceramic pots that were tied to

1110-507: Is needed. Larger heads store more gravitational potential energy for the same amount of water so the reservoirs for overshot and backshot wheels tend to be smaller than for breast shot wheels. Overshot and pitchback water wheels are suitable where there is a small stream with a height difference of more than 2 metres (6.5 ft), often in association with a small reservoir. Breastshot and undershot wheels can be used on rivers or high volume flows with large reservoirs. A horizontal wheel with

1184-527: Is recorded as the only corn mill in the parish in the 1845 Statistical Account. In Scotland the main cereal crop was oats and the word ' Corn ' is synonymous. The Scots name 'Nether', meaning 'lower' may refer to the presence of Stonyholm Mill, a flax mill, that stands upstream on the River Garnock . The lade that supplied Nether Mill via its rectangular mill pond ran down from the Stonyholm site with

1258-423: Is recorded on the 1750s William Roy military map. The cottage was a ruin by the time of the 1895 OS Map. A lime kiln was located near to the lane leading down to Unthank Farm. In 1648 a John Gulliland is recorded as living at Unthank. The tenant, George Dickie is recorded as having improved access. Knoxville Road runs down from Paddockholm Road which had a ford linking it to Holmhead Road. The lane running south from

1332-408: Is the overhead timber structure and a branch to the left supplies water to the wheel. The water exits from under the wheel back into the stream. A special type of overshot/backshot wheel is the reversible water wheel. This has two sets of blades or buckets running in opposite directions so that it can turn in either direction depending on which side the water is directed. Reversible wheels were used in

1406-495: Is used for wheels where the water entry is significantly above the bottom and significantly below the top, typically the middle half. They are characterized by: Both kinetic (movement) and potential (height and weight) energy are utilised. The small clearance between the wheel and the masonry requires that a breastshot wheel has a good trash rack ('screen' in British English) to prevent debris from jamming between

1480-481: The Ancient Near East before Alexander's conquest can be deduced from its pronounced absence from the otherwise rich oriental iconography on irrigation practices. Unlike other water-lifting devices and pumps of the period though, the invention of the compartmented wheel cannot be traced to any particular Hellenistic engineer and may have been made in the late 4th century BC in a rural context away from

1554-640: The Hellenistic Greek world , Rome , China and India . Waterwheels saw continued use in the post-classical age , like in medieval Europe and the Islamic Golden Age , but also elsewhere. In the mid- to late 18th century John Smeaton 's scientific investigation of the water wheel led to significant increases in efficiency, supplying much-needed power for the Industrial Revolution . Water wheels began being displaced by

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1628-551: The Kilbirnie Branch of the Lanarkshire and Ayrshire Railway with its embankment had been built and lay immediately to the east of the mill, closing in 1930. The 1938 OS map shows the mill pond drained and the mill disused. After closure the remaining walls of the mill next to the lane were capped with stone flags. The earth mound known as the 'Miller's Knowe' has been identified as an 'ancient sepulchral tumuli ',

1702-463: The Linlithgow standard wheat peck was 1.996 Imperial gallons . It ceased to have legal status as a measure after 1824. This old corn and meal mill, was once powered by the waters of the River Garnock that were stored in a roughly rectangular mill pond behind a substantial dam located above the mill, reaching the mill wheel in 1855 by a short mill race. A small unroofed building stood at top

1776-544: The copper mines at Rio Tinto in Spain , one system involving 16 such wheels stacked above one another so as to lift water about 80 feet from the mine sump. Part of such a wheel was found at Dolaucothi , a Roman gold mine in south Wales in the 1930s when the mine was briefly re-opened. It was found about 160 feet below the surface, so must have been part of a similar sequence as that discovered at Rio Tinto. It has recently been carbon dated to about 90 AD, and since

1850-414: The mining industry in order to power various means of ore conveyance. By changing the direction of the wheel, barrels or baskets of ore could be lifted up or lowered down a shaft or inclined plane. There was usually a cable drum or a chain basket on the axle of the wheel. It is essential that the wheel have braking equipment to be able to stop the wheel (known as a braking wheel). The oldest known drawing of

1924-538: The 1750s William Roy military map as well as a 'Load Side' or 'Lade Side' dwelling where the mill lade runs up towards its confluence with the Garnock. Robert Aitken's survey of 1827 shows Nethermill and records that only one corn mill and one lint or flax mill were present in the parish. The New Statistical Account of 1845 states that the mill was the barony mill and was known as the Nethermiln of Kilbirnie. The mill

1998-407: The 1850s with a George Dickie as the tenant, possibly the son of the previous miller. In 1792 Mr Dickie, the miller, was building the road near the mill pond when he uncovered an empty stone coffin, 6.5 feet long by 2.5 feet wide. He is recorded to have broken up this coffin or kist and used it in the road's construction. Three others had been found closer to Kilbirnie Bridge, one of which contained

2072-469: The advantage that the bottom of the wheel is moving in the same direction as the water in the tailrace which makes it more efficient. It also performs better than an overshot wheel in flood conditions when the water level may submerge the bottom of the wheel. It will continue to rotate until the water in the wheel pit rises quite high on the wheel. This makes the technique particularly suitable for streams that experience significant variations in flow and reduces

2146-442: The bottom of a water-filled, circular shaft. The water from the mill-race which entered tangentially the pit created a swirling water column that made the fully submerged wheel act like true water turbines , the earliest known to date. Apart from its use in milling and water-raising, ancient engineers applied the paddled waterwheel for automatons and in navigation. Vitruvius (X 9.5–7) describes multi-geared paddle wheels working as

2220-400: The combination of the separate Greek inventions of the toothed gear and the waterwheel into one effective mechanical system for harnessing water power. Vitruvius' waterwheel is described as being immersed with its lower end in the watercourse so that its paddles could be driven by the velocity of the running water (X, 5.2). About the same time, the overshot wheel appears for the first time in

2294-420: The dam, creating the second mill pond. The existing knowe lies to the south of the mill near the old junction in the lane for Unthank Cottage and the old lime kiln. The location of the stone coffin or kist was close to the mill wheel, near the base of the mound. In 2022 the inner ring of the cast iron waterwheel was intact and still linked with the drive wheel that ran into the mill interior. The outer ring of

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2368-411: The descendants of the water wheel, as they too take advantage of the movement of water downhill. Water wheels come in two basic designs: The latter can be subdivided according to where the water hits the wheel into backshot (pitch-back ), overshot, breastshot, undershot, and stream-wheels. The term undershot can refer to any wheel where the water passes under the wheel but it usually implies that

2442-443: The energy in the flow of water striking the wheel as measured by English civil engineer John Smeaton in the 18th century. More modern wheels have higher efficiencies. Stream wheels gain little or no advantage from the head, a difference in water level. Stream wheels mounted on floating platforms are often referred to as hip wheels and the mill as a ship mill . They were sometimes mounted immediately downstream from bridges where

2516-416: The exhausting labor of milling and grinding. The compartmented water wheel comes in two basic forms, the wheel with compartmented body ( Latin tympanum ) and the wheel with compartmented rim or a rim with separate, attached containers. The wheels could be either turned by men treading on its outside or by animals by means of a sakia gear. While the tympanum had a large discharge capacity, it could lift

2590-431: The flow restriction of the bridge piers increased the speed of the current. Historically they were very inefficient but major advances were made in the eighteenth century. An undershot wheel is a vertically mounted water wheel with a horizontal axle that is rotated by the water from a low weir striking the wheel in the bottom quarter. Most of the energy gain is from the movement of the water and comparatively little from

2664-420: The head. They are similar in operation and design to stream wheels. The term undershot is sometimes used with related but different meanings: This is the oldest type of vertical water wheel. The word breastshot is used in a variety of ways. Some authors restrict the term to wheels where the water enters at about the 10 o’clock position, others 9 o’clock, and others for a range of heights. In this article it

2738-422: The industrial revolution. A vertically mounted water wheel that is rotated by water entering buckets just past the top of the wheel is said to be overshot. The term is sometimes, erroneously, applied to backshot wheels, where the water goes down behind the wheel. A typical overshot wheel has the water channeled to the wheel at the top and slightly beyond the axle. The water collects in the buckets on that side of

2812-623: The kinetic energy of the water entering the wheel. They are suited to larger heads than the other type of wheel so they are ideally suited to hilly countries. However even the largest water wheel, the Laxey Wheel in the Isle of Man , only utilises a head of around 30 m (100 ft). The world's largest head turbines, Bieudron Hydroelectric Power Station in Switzerland , utilise about 1,869 m (6,132 ft). Overshot wheels require

2886-613: The late Warring States period (476-221 BC). It says that the waterwheel was invented by Zigong, a disciple of Confucius in the 5th century BC. By at least the 1st century AD, the Chinese of the Eastern Han Dynasty were using water wheels to crush grain in mills and to power the piston- bellows in forging iron ore into cast iron . In the text known as the Xin Lun written by Huan Tan about 20 AD (during

2960-475: The metropolis of Alexandria. The earliest depiction of a compartmented wheel is from a tomb painting in Ptolemaic Egypt which dates to the 2nd century BC. It shows a pair of yoked oxen driving the wheel via a sakia gear, which is here for the first time attested, too. The Greek sakia gear system is already shown fully developed to the point that "modern Egyptian devices are virtually identical". It

3034-485: The mill once linked up with the road system in the Lochend and Glengarnock area. 17th century - the Nethermiln of Kilbirnie was the barony mill for the Barony of Kilbirnie. 1750s - Neth Mill is recorded on William Roy 's military map. 1779 - Thirlage law repealed. Farmers were free to use the mill of their choice. Nether Mill was however the only corn mill in the parish. 1792 - the miller, probably Alastair Dickie,

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3108-718: The mill race was larger and a building, possibly a cottage or grain kiln built. 1938 - the OS map shows the mill pond drained and the mill disused. 2007 - the site was recorded as being of local importance. Kilbirnie Too Many Requests If you report this error to the Wikimedia System Administrators, please include the details below. Request from 172.68.168.236 via cp1112 cp1112, Varnish XID 971724111 Upstream caches: cp1112 int Error: 429, Too Many Requests at Thu, 28 Nov 2024 10:46:34 GMT Water wheel Some water wheels are fed by water from

3182-550: The mill, maintain the lade and weir as well as conveying new millstones to the site. The width of some of the first roads was determined by the requirements of at least two people on either side of a millstone with a wooden axle called a 'mill-wand'. The Thirlage Law was repealed in 1779 and after this many mills fell out of use as competition and unsubsidised running costs took their toll. This may explain why so many mills went out of use whilst mills such as Nether Mill thrived, expanding due to their convenient location for customers and

3256-519: The natural resource of an abundant and reliable water supply. As the Barony Mill or miln, the Kilbirnie farmers were thirled to Nether Mill and in 1845 paid a multure of forty-first peck, whilst oats brought in from outside the parish were exacted a fifteenth to twentieth of each peck ground. A peck was a dry measure for oats, wheat, meal, pease and salt, etc. The measure varied and as an example

3330-421: The north of the mill associated with a small garden area, that may have once been part of the mill complex. The 1895 OS shows the mill pond with a surface area of 0.363 of an acre with a small spillway running from the mill end through the site of the second pond. In 1895 the larger mill pond was present, but the smaller one had been infilled. The purpose of this smaller pond is unclear although it may have served as

3404-493: The outside of an open-framed wheel. The Romans used waterwheels extensively in mining projects, with enormous Roman-era waterwheels found in places like modern-day Spain . They were reverse overshot water-wheels designed for dewatering deep underground mines. Several such devices are described by Vitruvius , including the reverse overshot water-wheel and the Archimedean screw . Many were found during modern mining at

3478-475: The palace of the Pontian king Mithradates VI Eupator , but its exact construction cannot be gleaned from the text (XII, 3, 30 C 556). The first clear description of a geared watermill offers the late 1st century BC Roman architect Vitruvius who tells of the sakia gearing system as being applied to a watermill. Vitruvius's account is particularly valuable in that it shows how the watermill came about, namely by

3552-418: The pestle and mortar, which is so useful, and later on it was cleverly improved in such a way that the whole weight of the body could be used for treading on the tilt-hammer ( tui ), thus increasing the efficiency ten times. Afterwards the power of animals—donkeys, mules, oxen, and horses—was applied by means of machinery, and water-power too used for pounding, so that the benefit was increased a hundredfold. In

3626-497: The rushing of the water ( chi shui ) to operate it ... Thus the people got great benefit for little labor. They found the 'water(-powered) bellows' convenient and adopted it widely. Water wheels in China found practical uses such as this, as well as extraordinary use. The Chinese inventor Zhang Heng (78–139) was the first in history to apply motive power in rotating the astronomical instrument of an armillary sphere , by use of

3700-405: The site of the possible cottage or grain kiln (datum 2022). In 2007 a programme of archaeological evaluation and survey works was undertaken and the trenches had a common stratigraphic sequence with topsoil overlying variable subsoil. The report concluded that the mill should be considered as of local importance. In 1827 and in the 1850s a small cottage known as Unthank, with a garden & stable

3774-478: The size, complexity, and hence cost of the tailrace. The direction of rotation of a backshot wheel is the same as that of a breastshot wheel but in other respects, it is very similar to the overshot wheel. See below. Some wheels are overshot at the top and backshot at the bottom thereby potentially combining the best features of both types. The photograph shows an example at Finch Foundry in Devon, UK. The head race

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3848-419: The smaller, less expensive and more efficient turbine , developed by Benoît Fourneyron , beginning with his first model in 1827. Turbines are capable of handling high heads , or elevations , that exceed the capability of practical-sized waterwheels. The main difficulty of water wheels is their dependence on flowing water, which limits where they can be located. Modern hydroelectric dams can be viewed as

3922-402: The south-east of the mill pond in the 1850s. It appears from the OS map that the wheel may have been later covered by a wheel house by 1909. The present surviving metal water wheel dates from the mid-19th century. The ruins of a rectangular rubble building survive, with some evidence of another building that stood at right angles to it. The main difference between corn and meal milling is that meal

3996-457: The use of such wheels for submerging siege mines as a defensive measure against enemy sapping. Compartmented wheels appear to have been the means of choice for draining dry docks in Alexandria under the reign of Ptolemy IV (221−205 BC). Several Greek papyri of the 3rd to 2nd century BC mention the use of these wheels, but do not give further details. The non-existence of the device in

4070-444: The usurpation of Wang Mang ), it states that the legendary mythological king known as Fu Xi was the one responsible for the pestle and mortar, which evolved into the tilt-hammer and then trip hammer device (see trip hammer ). Although the author speaks of the mythological Fu Xi, a passage of his writing gives hint that the water wheel was in widespread use by the 1st century AD in China ( Wade-Giles spelling): Fu Hsi invented

4144-448: The vertical-axle waterwheel. In the 2nd century AD Barbegal watermill complex a series of sixteen overshot wheels was fed by an artificial aqueduct, a proto-industrial grain factory which has been referred to as "the greatest known concentration of mechanical power in the ancient world". In Roman North Africa , several installations from around 300 AD were found where vertical-axle waterwheels fitted with angled blades were installed at

4218-400: The water entry is low on the wheel. Overshot and backshot water wheels are typically used where the available height difference is more than a couple of meters. Breastshot wheels are more suited to large flows with a moderate head . Undershot and stream wheel use large flows at little or no head. There is often an associated millpond , a reservoir for storing water and hence energy until it

4292-416: The water hits the wheel paddles, into overshot, breastshot and undershot wheels. The two main functions of waterwheels were historically water-lifting for irrigation purposes and milling, particularly of grain. In case of horizontal-axle mills, a system of gears is required for power transmission, which vertical-axle mills do not need. The earliest waterwheel working like a lever was described by Zhuangzi in

4366-542: The water hitting the wheel roughly centrally, usually between one quarter and three quarters of the height. The buckets have to be carefully shaped to ensure that the water enters smoothly. A large volume of water is required with a moderate head and the efficiency is between fifty and sixty per cent. In a 1976 photograph the wheel was intact minus the buckets and sole, however one side of the cast iron mill wheel has been broken since that time. The wheel pit with its well built splash wall of high quality dressed stone survives and

4440-434: The water is not constrained by millraces or wheel pits. Stream wheels are cheaper and simpler to build and have less of an environmental impact than other types of wheels. They do not constitute a major change of the river. Their disadvantages are their low efficiency, which means that they generate less power and can only be used where the flow rate is sufficient. A typical flat board undershot wheel uses about 20 percent of

4514-560: The water only to less than the height of its own radius and required a large torque for rotating. These constructional deficiencies were overcome by the wheel with a compartmented rim which was a less heavy design with a higher lift. The earliest literary reference to a water-driven, compartmented wheel appears in the technical treatise Pneumatica (chap. 61) of the Greek engineer Philo of Byzantium ( c.  280  – c.  220 BC ). In his Parasceuastica (91.43−44), Philo advises

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4588-415: The water was carried via a tail race to a confluence with the nearby River Garnock. A substantial and partly walled lade was built that ran parallel to the lane for a short distance and this carried the water from the wheel down to Garnock. The mill is recorded on the 1832 Thomson's map of Kilbirnie. In 1855 a second smaller mill pond lay below the main mill pond. A group of buildings, shown in 1855, stand to

4662-510: The waterwheel was broken into several pieces and the supporting metal rods were buckled. After heavy rain water still ran through the course of the old spillway and lade and tail race, which remains intact to its confluence with the Garnock opposite the Kilbirnie Ladeside FC's grounds. The mill wall facing the lane was largely intact and indications of entrance door jambs survived on the north facing wall remnant and another next to

4736-624: The wheel and the apron and potentially causing serious damage. Breastshot wheels are less efficient than overshot and backshot wheels but they can handle high flow rates and consequently high power. They are preferred for steady, high-volume flows such as are found on the Fall Line of the North American East Coast. Breastshot wheels are the most common type in the United States of America and are said to have powered

4810-406: The wheel, making it heavier than the other "empty" side. The weight turns the wheel, and the water flows out into the tail-water when the wheel rotates enough to invert the buckets. The overshot design is very efficient, it can achieve 90%, and does not require rapid flow. Nearly all of the energy is gained from the weight of water lowered to the tailrace although a small contribution may be made by

4884-467: The wheel. Signs of the old buildings east wing were discernable at ground level. The axle of the waterwheel within its cast iron box in the splash wall was in good condition. No millstones or any other mill machinery were visible inside the old mill. Industrial style buildings still stand to the north that may have been part of the mill complex. The mound known locally as the Miller's Knowe still stands beyond

4958-449: The wood from which it was made is much older than the deep mine, it is likely that the deep workings were in operation perhaps 30–50 years after. It is clear from these examples of drainage wheels found in sealed underground galleries in widely separated locations that building water wheels was well within their capabilities, and such verticals water wheels commonly used for industrial purposes. Taking indirect evidence into account from

5032-510: The work of the Greek technician Apollonius of Perge , the British historian of technology M.J.T. Lewis dates the appearance of the vertical-axle watermill to the early 3rd century BC, and the horizontal-axle watermill to around 240 BC, with Byzantium and Alexandria as the assigned places of invention. A watermill is reported by the Greek geographer Strabon ( c.  64 BC  – c.  AD 24 ) to have existed sometime before 71 BC in

5106-589: The year 31 AD, the engineer and Prefect of Nanyang , Du Shi (d. 38), applied a complex use of the water wheel and machinery to power the bellows of the blast furnace to create cast iron . Du Shi is mentioned briefly in the Book of Later Han ( Hou Han Shu ) as follows (in Wade-Giles spelling): In the seventh year of the Chien-Wu reign period (31 AD) Tu Shih was posted to be Prefect of Nanyang. He

5180-425: Was a generous man and his policies were peaceful; he destroyed evil-doers and established the dignity (of his office). Good at planning, he loved the common people and wished to save their labor. He invented a water-power reciprocator ( shui phai ) for the casting of (iron) agricultural implements. Those who smelted and cast already had the push-bellows to blow up their charcoal fires, and now they were instructed to use

5254-478: Was building the road near the mill pond when he uncovered an empty ancient stone coffin or kist. Alastair's wife was Margaret Craufurd. 1827 - Robert Aitken's survey records Nethermill and that only one corn mill and one lint or flax mill existed in the parish. 1832 - the mill is recorded on John Thomson's map of Kilbirnie. 1845 - the New Statistical Account of 1845 records that the corn mill

5328-585: Was once situated nearby, also the property of the Earl of Glasgow. The name 'Unthank', a common farm name, may mean 'barren soil' as in the Old English 'un-panc'. or land used without consent, a 'Squatters Farm'. 'Loc Tancu' is the earliest recorded name for Kilbirnie Loch dating from c.  1210 and the name 'Loch Tankard', 'Thankard' or 'Thankart' was used locally. The name 'Unthank' or 'Onthank' may therefore instead be derived from 'Tancu'. An 'Onthank'

5402-414: Was probably a single storey building, developed to become a complex when at a later stage buildings such as a grain kiln, cottage and a wheel house enclosure may have been added. The mound near the site is locally known as the 'Miller's Knowe'. Kilbirnie Ladeside F.C. is named for the lade of the mill that has its confluence with the Garnock opposite the club's grounds. A 'Neth Mill' is first recorded on

5476-419: Was the only one in the parish. 1845 - the earth mound known as the 'Miller's Knowe' was identified as an 'ancient sepulchral tumuli ', a burial mound, in the 1845 New Statistical Account of Ayrshire. 1850s - Nether Mill was the property of the Earl of Glasgow and the miller was George Dickie. 1859 - George Dickie, the corn miller, died and was buried at Kilbirnie Kirk. 1909 - the mill had been extended,

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