Some Photographs of Water Wheels

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Horus
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Some Photographs of Water Wheels

Post by Horus »

I always enjoy a drive over the bridge to the West Bank and this old waterwheel always attracted my attention as we passed by.
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There is another one that can be seen working at a farm along the Movenpick road after the bridge.
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Also if you stop off at the old Movenpick Hotel (Jollie Ville) you can also see this one located in the grounds.
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This one was being used in 1965
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A picture from 1908
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There must be plenty of others tucked away, does anyone else have other pictures of any water wheels and their location?


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Water wheels

Post by Jayway »

Nice pictures Horus. We have buckets on a chain going down into the well, a donkey walks around to get the water up. Local well is covered, a large iron wheel with a handle to turn. Filling your bottles up makes you appreciate WATER - - :)
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Post by Grandad »

I like the pictures Horus, can't say I have ever seen such wheels on my trips to Egypt unfortunately so nothing to add here: Unless we can take the broad view and include any 'water wheel'?
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Post by Horus »

Sure thing Grandad :) its an open subject, lets broaden it out :) I would like to see that bucket and chain well, that Jay uses in the village :)
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Post by Grandad »

I found this one of a chain and bucket water wheel around the Cateract at Aswan last year. I don't know anything about it, just cruised slowly past on Mustafas boat. :)

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Post by BillH »

Here's a more familiar sight that is typical in the UK.

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This is about 3 miles away, in the next village. It's a 19th Century wheel and is fed from the river Alyn.

I live further up the river, and we had many smaller mills all down the river 2 - 300 years ago. Sadly they have long since gone, and just the stone housings remain.


I have several pictures of the Movenpick wheel, the one at the back looks considerably older than the one closest to the river.
A legacy from the old farming days on the island.
I noticed that the bigger versions of the huts, have now replaced the farmland there, and the old Nubian house is full of building materials.

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Interestingly, I was having another balloon ride when I took this picture. First tiime I have ever gone over the east bank in a ballooon ! We ended up in the Eastern Desert, about 10 miles in when we landed 8)
Last edited by BillH on Sat Jan 22, 2011 1:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Grandad »

Nice picture of the mill wheel Bill, and I have never seen an aerial picture of the island, puts it all in perspective.

Water and wind powered mills have always fascinated me and the way our river is flowing just now we could harness some of that energy. :)

Here is another water mill wheel, this is Moulin de Mainteray.

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And this one was originally a twin wheel mill. It is at Hesdin. Both these mills are in Northern France and I like their picturesque settings.

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Post by Horus »

Great pictures from you both and in beautiful settings :) I love the old waterwheels and of course several variations exist, overshot, undershot & breast shot.

And Grandad, have a look at Kings Island (Crocodile Island) on Google Earth, you can get really close detail. :)
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Post by LovelyLadyLux »

The water wheels are fantastic. I love them and epitomize the word "quaint." Each and every one makes such a terrific picture and seems to hold such history. It has to be the combination of solid rock, weathered wood and moving water that gives water wheels such an appeal to me.
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Post by Grandad »

Firstly H, what is a breast shot wheel; I understand the over and undershot styles? Any pictures?

Still on water mills, this is the twin UNDERSHOT mill race of a ruined mill near the city centre that was destroyed by fire in 1933. A bit of techie stuff: The wheels were 12 feet and 6 feet in diameter, they drove eight pairs of stones and had a capacity to grind up to 700 quarters (140 tons) of wheat in a week.

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Post by Horus »

Grandad wrote:
Firstly H, what is a breast shot wheel; I understand the over and undershot styles? Any pictures?
Simply put Grandad, the water hits the wheel at mid height rather than passing underneath or over the top. So using a clock face as an example, if the water stream enters from the left hand side then it hits the wheel at 9 o'clock rather than at 6 or 12.
I do not have any pictures of my own, but I will have a look around :)

Nice picture by the way :)

Edit: It seems that there is also another one called a 'Pitchback' Grandad, :) here is a good link to the various types.
http://www.whitemill.org/z0028.htm
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Post by Grandad »

Something to add to the collection.:)

Just found this overshot water wheel at Morwellham in Devon on the site of an old copper mine.

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Post by BillH »

Nice picture Grandad :)
Great to see the wheel still working too.

Now, since you have moved the wheel size up a notch or two, here's one I used to visit regularly when I lived there..

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Now THAT is the mother of all water wheels ;)
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Post by Horus »

Great pictures from you both, Grandads is a good example of an overshot wheel :) and Morwellham Quay recently featured in a living history type program called "The Edwardian Farm" in which three people recreate the lives of Edwardian farmers living in the area.

Bill's is The Great Laxey Wheel on the Isle of Man, sometimes called 'Lady Isabella' but looks like an undershot wheel.
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Post by Grandad »

Just an observation between the two wheels.

In my example the wheel turns away from the water source, the trough is beyond the vertical centre line. In Bills, the wheel would turn towards the source which is more efficient if the bottom of the wheel is just immersed in the used water because it would aid the wheel as it flows away.....
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Post by Horus »

I think you will find that Bill's wheel is the undershot type and the bit at the top is only an observation platform. You can see the launder that brings in the water situated on the left hand side as a stone built structure. With that amount of drop on the last section, it would have had a powerful force behind it as it hit the wheel paddles and flowed out under the wheel.
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Post by BillH »

In a way, these wheels are not being shown in their true environment.

they are all kind of romanticised now, like the Laxey wheel all bright and clean, freshly painted.

These were at the heart of industry, be it a mill or a pump in the middle of a huge industrial complex with the mines below.

Rosset mill for example would in it's day have had much activity going on, and occupy a large area of land, with surrounding buildings for the raw materials and with the farmers bringing in the corn and wheat, and bakers collecting the flour and the storage facilities required.

Despite what we may consider rather crude technology, fact is it worked and it is clean energy.. Makes you wonder just how far we have advanced in the last 300 years ?
These wheels could pump water out of mines, and run machinery or grinding stones.. lot's of different uses.

Many of the old houses I visit on these big estates had water wheels.
I will upset Horus now, ;) and here is the Ram pump at Erddig Hall just down the road from me. You will also see how the stream was modified to provide the water drop to power the pump. We call it the Cup and saucer..
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notice how it does not sit flat anymore ? This could be down to the old Colliery about 4 miles away, or just natural settling of the stone.

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This pump STILL send water up into the roof of the Hall, which is over 100 feet higher up the hill. The pump cannot be photographed due to it's positioning inside the brick housing.
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I did however find this one on T' Interweb..

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I appear to have lost a whole batch of pictures from Erdigg. Looks like I will be heading out there on Sunday to take more..
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Post by Horus »

:lol: :lol: Bill, I have never disputed the workings of a ram pump, ;)
In fact many country houses utilise the same principle to lift water. What I do dispute is your theory that they were ever used in Egypt and especially in connection with the pyramids.

Although the principle of a ram pump is quite basic, the construction of them is not, in particular the ability of any material used for the pipework to withstand high internal pressures. In your example that would have been in excess of 50 P.S.I. and I have never seen any examples of cast iron or bronze pipes in ancient Egypt or their ability to manufacture or fasten together any such device, their technology in this area was just too basic. :)

But nice pictures anyway! :D
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Post by Grandad »

I stand corrected H. I took that overhang to be the water course.... :(
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Post by Kiya »

Great pics from you boys & enjoying reading of the workings of these wheels though I know nothing about them myself.
Shame I didn't know my great grandfather, where he worked & lived at the old mill of Strichen ( a small village a short distance from me) my mother was born there & it is where Alex Salmond lives now.
I'm sure I've seen an old photo of wheel in use at this place if I ever find it I'll upload it.
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