Fulling Mill

Timeline

1. c. 1100–1250England and Normandy · EnglandFrom the 12th century, English and French craftsmen replaced tread fulling with water-driven camshafts, wooden hammers beating wet cloth soaked in fuller's earth and urine at a fixed rhythm, far outperforming human labor; fulling mills multiplied along rivers.
2. c. 1341–1350Leie river basin, Ghent · GhentIn the 1340s, Ghent, Ypres and Bruges had dozens of water-powered fulling mills along the Leie and Dender rivers, each with multiple hammer sets running day and night, supplying fulled cloth to English and French markets; guilds strictly controlled the process and water quality, and output reached a medieval peak before the Black Death.
3. c. 1350–1500Yorkshire and West Yorkshire · YorkshireAfter the 1350s, labor shortages prompted owners to invest more in water-powered fulling; the technique spread from Flemish craftsmen to Yorkshire and Somerset, where fulling mills, dye houses and scribbling mills formed a complete wool-processing chain, remaining a key step in cloth production until the Industrial Revolution.