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Fulling Mill
A water-powered mill whose wooden hammers beat wet wool cloth to shrink, degrease, and densify the fibers, a key step in mechanizing woolen textiles;…
Timeline
- c. 1100–1150Flemish textile belt · FlandersFlemish craftsmen converted existing watermills into fulling shops, replacing human treading with continuous wooden hammers and greatly shortening the cloth-finishing cycle.
- 1181–1185England and northern France · England–Northern FranceAround the 1180s fulling mills spread along rivers into England and northern France, closely tied to fulling guild regulations and cross-Channel wool trade.
- c. 1300–1500Western European textile cities · Western EuropeIn the 14th–15th centuries large fulling shops divided labor with dyeing and combing, forming a complete hydraulic textile industrial chain that supported Hanseatic and Mediterranean trade.
Sources
- Munro, J. H. Medieval Woollens: The Western European Woollen Industries and their Struggles for International Markets, c.1000–1500 — John H. Munro (2003)