11/03/2014: Roller flour mill - A revolution in the UK from 1820s to the present day

Roger, Brian and Rob.

Almost 50 members of the London and South East Millers Association gathered in London at Nabim's Arlington Street headquarters this evening to hear a joint presentation by Bryan McGee and Rob Sorland-Ball on the 'Roller four mill - A revolution in the UK from 1820s to the present day.'

Henry Gustav Simon introduced the first roller mill into the UK in 1878 from Hungary and Austria, where the technology was first developed, to challenge the dominance of stone milling. While he sold some hundreds of the new mills in the first few years both in the UK and throughout the Empire, it was not until the 1881 great London International Exhibition ' Flour Mill Machinery' organised by Nabim that roller mills became established in the industry following practical demonstrations throughout the three-day show, Mr Sorland-Ball, who is researching the history of the roller mill for an English-Heritage funded project, told his audience.

The project covers 196 English roll mills.

The audience were fascinated with the pictures of bygone mills, many of which were extremely large facilities housing all types of milling operations from flour to feed to pet and even bakeries. Today many of the old building have gone, however some remain and have been converted into other uses, the most popular of which are apartments, flats and offices.

Through his research he believes there is a great untold story about milling in the UK and the impact it had on society and human health and asked millers to support the Mills Archive Trust work on compiling historic records on roller flour mills.