The mill buildings were really close, a couple of hundred on five small tributaries, each tributary running no more than a few miles before converging to one ri

The mill buildings were really close, a couple of hundred on five small tributaries, each tributary running no more than a few miles before converging to one river that had even more mills on it, larger and not so dependent on river speed. The river had been dredged and otherwise adjusted by people at the time for it to have subsequently been used for the canal of the area. It is therefore hard to imagine how it once was, particularly given that water wheel technology evolved too.