Click on the image to see a larger version.

Following on from MOLA's tide mill find at Greenwich Wharf in 2008, mill expert Dr Robert Spain has very kindly produced this fantastic provisional reconstruction drawing of the mill waterwheel, which includes its conjectured gear wheels and millstones. This reconstruction is a scaled interpretation, based on the in-situ waterlogged remains of the wheel and water trough that were recovered at the site.

The timbers have since been recorded, lifted and are now with York Archaeological Trust, undergoing conservation. Initial hydro-mechanical analysis of the wheel by Dr Spain suggests that it would have measured c 5.6m in diameter. The wheel would have been centred by up to 12 radial arms (spokes) and would have been fitted with up to 60 paddles or ‘floats’.

Read more about our discovery of the Greenwich tide mill