WATER MILLS - National Park Krka
Along the course of the river Krka, about 30 water mills, and several
washing holes and columns have been preserved. The best preserved, and now
restored watermills are at Skradinski buk. They were first mention in a document
from 1215, in which King Bela III demarcated the dividing line between Šibenik
and Trogir.
During the 14th and 15th centuries, the water mills on the Krka River were
important for the entire Adriatic coast, as wheat was milled here for numerous
towns, from Dubrovnik to Istria. They typically have rural style. The walls of
the mills were built with stone and travertine, with mortar made of a
combination of limestone and sand or clay. The roof and inner construction was
made of wood, and the roofing was most often stone slabs.
The largest preserved structure is the Gornja kuća (Upper House) at Skradinski
buk, with a water mill, kitchen upstairs, the miller's flat and the stales. On
the ground floor there are six milling wheels. The grindstone functioned by
grinding and cutting the material between two mill stones, one of which turned
(each having a coarse surface with rough edges).
Next to the water mill, the dike for collecting water and six supply canals to
the milling wheels have been preserved. The extension of the mill, in the middle
of a cave, is the column where homemade cloth and blankets were completed. A
strong stream of water would hit the top of the beam and turn two strong wooden
hammers, which would pound the cloth to soften it. The column also contains
washing holes in which various cloth products were washed and softened.
