Millstone Quarter (Torrune)

The Millstone Quarter is one of the major districts of Torrune, situated in the southwest part of the Low City. It is part of the Low City waterfront, lying along the north bank of the Helvander just above and across from where the Greywine flows into it. The quarter is so-named because most of the city's large mills are located here. The Helvander's current is swifter just above the confluence with the Greywine (it widens and thus slows considerably downstream of that point), making it the best site for the series of large water-wheels that power the mills. The major street running directly along the riverbank, where the big mills stand shoulder-to-shoulder in a long row, is partially paved with worn-out and broken millstones from their centuries of grinding.
The main boulevards from the Portage Gate down to the riverfront docks and Qorro's Bridge run through the Millstone Quarter, meaning it sees a great deal of cart and wagon traffic at all hours. These boulevards are almost perpetually jammed and the noisy, chaotic congestion often spills over into narrower streets in the surrounding neighborhoods. The dozens of wagon-loads of grain that must be delivered to the mills each day, and the equally numerous loads of flour going out to the markets and bakers all over the city, only add to the problem.
The Millstone Quarter is the only place in Torrune where some of the old city walls still stand. These were mostly torn down in the 1010s - 1020s CV and their stones reused in constructing the current walls, which are higher and enclose a larger area. In the Millstone Quarter, however, the last intact section of the old walls extends for about two hundred yards from the riverfront. It includes the XXXXXXX Gate, also called the Old Portage Gate, a large fortified gatehouse through which the road down from Sillport used to enter the Low City. Now the main boulevard from the current Portage Gate to the riverfront passes through it; the actual gates and portcullises are long gone, and the huge arched gate-passage forms a sort of a tunnel through which the road runs. As large as this gate-passage is, it does still force a narrowing of the thoroughfare, creating a choke point that further contributes to congestion on the area's roads. The gatehouse itself is now used as a fortified guard-post and jail by the Archon's militia. 
Where this remnant of the old walls reaches the riverbank, there stands the massive square Tower of XXXXXX projecting out into the water. It is part of the old walls but is actually still a functional element of the city's defenses since the current walls (which run along the shore to the northwest) connect to it via a semicircular bastion. Thus it still anchors the western end of the Low City's fortified perimeter. The tower itself, and the adjoining bastion, are used by the Archon's guards to observe boat traffic on the river and as a base for anti-smuggler patrols.
Across the Helvander from the Millstone Quarter, and connected to it by the Nyrrian Bridge, lies the northern part of Fenside.