page_title: List of watermills in the United Kingdom
section_title: Lancashire
hierarchical_section_title: List of watermills in the United Kingdom / England / Lancashire
caption_attribution_description: English: Higher Mill Museum
context_page_description: The use of water power in Britain was at its peak just before the Industrial Revolution. The need for power was great and steam power had not yet become established. It is estimated that at this time there were well in excess of ten thousand watermills in the country. Most of these were corn mills, but almost any industrial process needing motive power, beyond that available from the muscles of men or animals, used a water wheel, unless a windmill was preferred.
  Today only a fraction of these mills survive. Many are used as private residences, or have been converted into offices or flats. A number have been preserved or restored as museums where the public can see the mill in operation.
  This is a list of some of the surviving watermills and tide mills in the United Kingdom.
context_section_description: Higher Mill, Helmshore, Rossendale
  Thurnham Mill, Conder Green
  Forge Bank Mill, Halton
caption: Higher Mill, Lancashire
exif: {}