Before starting the mill, the miller wound down the stone nut with the 'jack ring' so that it meshed with the great spur wheel. He then filled the hopper above the stones by pulling out the slide in the chute and allowing grain to fall from the bins on the floor above.

If making animal feed, the miller used the left-hand coarser Peak stones, so-called because they were quarried in the Derbyshire Peak District of sandstone aptly named millstone grit.
When milling wheat for flour, he used the right-hand French burr stones. These are made up of blocks of chert, a very hard form of flint, which used to be quarried near Paris. The blocks are held together by iron hoops and Plaster of Paris. Both pairs of stones are enclosed in 'stone cases', sometimes called 'vats' or 'tuns'.

After opening the penstock to start the waterwheel, he hurried down the stairs to begin milling by lowering the runner stone which had been resting just clear of the bed stone. Raising or lowering the runner stone increases or decreases the gap between the stones, an operation called 'tentering'. This gap, or 'nip' as millers call it, helps determine the fineness of the meal - the smaller the nip, the finer the meal. Tentering at Ford End is done by turning the nut up or down on the threaded rod just beside the meal spout. This moved the 'bridge tree' (an adjustable beam supporting the lower end of the stone spindle) which in turn raised or lowered the runner stone.

The 'damsel', a vertical iron bar, with four 'lobes' or arms forming a square at its middle, protrudes from the eye of the stone and rotates with it. The damsel is so called, it is said, because of its incessant chattering! This constant chatter was a useful sound to the miller since it gave him an indication of the speed of the stone.

As the damsel rotates, the arms strike against the inclined 'shoe' below the hopper to jog the grains along so that they fall into the eye. The inclination of the shoe can be adjusted from the floor below by the "crook" string to decrease or increase the amount of grain being fed to the stones.

The speed of the runner stone, the amount of grain fed into the eye and the adjustment of the nip between the stones together, combine to determine the quality and quantity of the meal.

To warn him when the grain in the hopper is running low, the miller relies on a bell fixed to the 'horse', a wooden frame supporting the hopper. The bell is kept out of contact with the damsel by a strap which is held down by the weight of grain in the hopper. When the grain is low and the weight reduced, the strap is released, the bell falls against the damsel causing it to ring so letting the miller know that the hopper needs refilling.

The grinding surfaces of the millstones have a pattern of grooves or furrows cut into them: these can be seen on the stone resting against the front wall of the mill. As the runner stone turns on the bedstone, the furrows cross "scissor-fashion", and the shearing action grinds the grain and propels the meal to the edge of the bedstone. From here it falls through a hole in the floor and down the meal spout into the meal bin on the ground floor, where it would be bagged and weighed ready for collection or delivery.

DRESSING THE STONES:

With use, millstones wear down and have to be 'dressed; that is the furrows re-cut and the grinding surfaces (the 'lands') made rough again. The degree of wear entirely depends on the amount and method of usage, and the miller would only have the stones dressed when he felt they were not milling efficiently. Dressing was usually done by a millwright, but many millers were capable of doing it themselves.

THE CHAFFCUTTER, SACK HOIST and WINNOWING MACHINE:

At the top of the main shaft on the stone floor is the iron 'crown wheel' with wooden cogs. Its purpose is to transfer the drive, again through a right angle by means of an iron bevel gear-wheel to the 'lay shaft', on which are mounted two pulleys for driving ancillary machinery.

One drove the chaffcutter used to chop straw up into short lengths for animal feed and bedding. It is a relatively modern machine (1922) with a basic safety device which could be pushed by the worker to reverse the gears driving the spiked feed rollers should his hand be caught in them, in order to prevent his fingers (already injured) from being amputated by the rotating blades!

The other pulley drives the sack hoist. To set it in motion, the miller tightens the belt on the pulley - not unlike a slipping clutch - by pulling on the hoist rope which passes through each floor. The end of the chain is looped round the neck of the sack of grain which is then raised by the hoist from the ground floor, through two sets of clapper or trap doors to the bin floor for emptying into the storage hoppers and bins.

It is thought that in the past, the lay shaft also drove a winnowing machine, often called a 'winnower', but no direct evidence of this has been found. This machine cleans the grain of weed seeds, straw, dirt and other contaminants by means of a rotating fan (blower) and a series of vibrating sieves. There is a hand driven winnower on the stone floor of the mill - it is hoped to restore it to working order, initially by hand, but later power driven from the lay shaft.

SHEEP WASHING AT FORD END:

Sheep washing - not dipping which is a more recent practice using chemicals, was common in the past. Washing made shearing much easier, and a clean fleece commanded a better price. Nowadays it no longer pays to prepare wool in this way.

By looking at what is left of the sheep-wash, one can follow how the washing was done. Sheep were brought to the mill from farms in the neighbourhood and penned on the bricked area in front of the mill. They were then dropped one at a time into a pool about 5 feet (1.5m) deep This was created by placing boards across the tail race between the two posts at either end of the old bridge below the mill.

Axle (or axle tree) - cast iron shaft on which the water wheel and pit wheel are mounted.

Bedstone - lower fixed millstone.

Bridge tree - adjustable metal beam supporting the bottom of the stone spindle - used to vary the 'nip'when tentering.

Boards - metal (formerly wood) sheets which form the waterwheel buckets.

Buckets - enclosures or containers in the periphery of the wheel formed by the boards to trap and hold the water.

Crook string - cord by which the inclination of the shoe is adjusted.

Crown wheel - cast iron gear-wheel with wooden cogs at the top of the main shaft; drives the lay shaft.

Damsel - rotating vertical metal bar, split into four to form a square at its middle, which agitates the shoe to 'jog' the grains along into the eye of the runner stone.

Eye - hole in the centre of the runner stone into which the grain falls from the shoe.

French burr stones - millstones made of interlocking blocks of chert - a form of flint and very hard - which used to be quarried near Paris. The blocks are held together by iron hoops and Plaster of Paris.

Great spur wheel - cast iron wheel with wooden cogs; transfers the drive from the main shaft to the stone nuts.

Headrace - channel or millrace (including the leat or lade and pentrough) along which the water flows to the wheel.

Head of water - the difference between the upper water level (millpond) and the lower level (tailrace).

Horse - wooden frame on top of the stone case supporting the hopper and shoe; the 'low grain level' warning bell is attached to it.

Jack ring - metal ring below the stone nuts; raised and lowered by a handle on a threaded rod; disengages and engages the stone nuts.

Lay shaft - shafting with pulleys used to drive the chaffcutter and sack hoist; drive taken from the crown wheel through a cast iron bevel gear-wheel.

Meal - product from grinding, before any further processing.

Nip - the gap between the millstones, adjusted by tentering.

Peak stones - millstones of millstone grit (a sandstone) quarried in the Derbyshire Peak District.

Penstock - sluice gatge fitted within the pentrough to control the flow of water.

Pentrough - trough carrying the water from the millpond to the top of the wheel.

Pit wheel - first gearwheel inside the mill, made of cast iron with wooden cogs and located over a pit - hence its name - and mounted on the same axle as the wheel.

Runner stone - upper millstone which revolves.

Shoe (or Slipper) - tapering wooden chute or tray which conducts the grain from the hopper into the eye of the stones.

Shrouds - circumferentialal outer casings on each side of the water wheel; form the buckets with the boards.

Sluice (gate) - wooden gate within the pentrough which is raised or lowered to control the amount of water flowing onto the wheel by which the speed of the wheel and hence the runner stone is determined.

Stone case (vat or tun) - wooden casing enclosing the stones.

Stone nut - cast iron gear-wheel (pinion) which transfers the drive from the spur wheel to the stone spindle.

Stone spindle - vertical shaft supporting and driving the runner stone.

Stop planks - heavy boards placed across the entrance to the pentrough to stop the flow of water in case of emergency or problems with the pentrough or sluice gate.

Tailrace - channel along which water flows from below the wheel.

Tentering - adjusting the gap or 'nip' between the runner and bedstone.

Wallower - cast iron bevel gear-wheel; transfers the drive from the pit wheel to the main vertical shaft.

Winnower - machine, hand or power driven; removes seeds, chaff and dirt from grain prior to milling.