While Geoffrey’s involvement in Oxford’s mills is suggestive, other Carpenter ties to mills are more substantial. Ralph Carpenter who can be tied to this Carpenter group held a mill and adjoining land from the Earl of Norfolk in the mid 1200s (Ancient Deeds, vol. I, p. 63). More interesting was the Vincent Carpentar who worked on the King’s fulling mill in the early 1200s. Let me quote an earlier letter. [One of the first great moments of early English industrial development was the introduction of mechanized fulling mills for wool in the 1200s. Previously this process was done by foot! Carus-Wilson in her MEDIEVAL MERCHANT VENTURERS has a chapter dedicated to this real industrial Revolution and a member of the Carpenter family gets a good share of the glory. Let me quote: “The fulling mills on the lay estates for which the early records survive are, not unnaturally, those of the king himself. One of the first royal mills was near Marlborough, at Elcot. This was in existence in the reign of John and was rebuilt by the king,s orders in 1237. The task was intrusted to William de Pretsch and Vincent Carpentar’, who had workmen under them, and cost altogether L. 4, 17s, 4d. Most of the money was spent on felling and carting timber from Savernake forest; the rest on remaking the mill-pond, the weir, the mill-wheel and its enclosure, the mill-race and also the “flagella et baterella’ – probably the hammers for beating the cloth”.] We could begin some interesting speculation on all of this material. The Carpenters who came to England in the 1200s seem to have possessed expertise relating to mill processing of wool and cloth -making. It is a possibility that they were brought to England for this purpose. Were they early technocrats? Does the original meaning of ‘carpenter’ for this group of people meant something closer to ‘engineer’ or builders and maintainers of early cloth mills? BC