In the big scheme of things, Hawarden mill isn’t even a particularly old mill. Rotary production was carried forward from the Roman era, and throughout the centuries oats and corn were the staple diet of miners and farmers and this continued right through the 18th century as the records kept at that time suggest customers were buying oatmeal in large quantities. Sometimes farmers bought their own cereals at market, especially when prices were high. They then would bring it to the mill to be dried and ground. At the beginning of the 19th century some customers stayed loyal to oatmeal, but the production of wheat flour becomes increasingly popular. Water mills begin to succumb to the pressures of the industrial revolution, and they begin to drop like flies.