The vertical water wheel described by Vitruvius around 25 BCE converted the flow of a stream into rotary power for grinding grain, and later for sawing, fulling cloth, forging iron and other tasks. The Romans built milling complexes such as Barbegal in southern Gaul, where sixteen wheels in two rows ground flour for a regional market. By the medieval period watermills were ubiquitous across Europe; Domesday Book recorded several thousand in England alone in 1086. Mills concentrated production at fixed points on rivers and millraces.
The watermill was the first major source of inanimate power, anchoring industry to watercourses and shaping the siting of mill towns long before steam.
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