Ripon's water mills, which were once a sign of a thriving economy, have been virtually erased from the landscape on which they were such a prominent feature.

In the heyday of water power, the city was served by five mills - but their prior existence is reflected now mainly in street names and you would have to dig deep for any other signs.

But Mr Chris Long, who runs a radio and television servicing business in Allhallowgate, has revived some memories unearthed from the archives of Ripon college, giving some clues to the past.

"I belong to a motor boat club and one of the members was writing a history on the canals and waterways of Ripon. I found the information at the college.

"But I already knew there had been a lot of mills here. When you look at the names such as Waterskellgate - the mill race ran down there at one time and a number of mill races are still in existence."

He used the Wakeman newsletters written by historian and artist, Mr George Jackson, in 1948 as the source of his information.

Recalling November's floods, Mr Long pointed out that in October 1892, Ripon was hit by weekend floods "in common with the rest of the country" which were so severe that they destroyed High Mill dam at High Cleugh.

According to the historian, the owner of the mill appeared to have decided that floods that came every 25 years were too great a burden to be born. The dam and the sluice gate were never rebuilt.

In 1948, on the Bishopton Mill side of the river, there was still a fragment of the dam but nothing remained on the Ripon side.

It was the small River Laver that supplied most of the power for the mills. Three of them it worked independently before it joined forces with the River Skell to power the other two.

"It was, in fact, the hardest worked stream in the neighbourhood, for in addition to those in Ripon, its clear waters turned the wheels of mills at Gate Bridge, Winskley, Galphay and at Bishopton, where at one time there were three mills. That's 11 mills in all," said Mr Jackson.

The Laver began at High Clough, then flowed along a race of what in post-war years became the front gardens of the modern houses in Borrage Lane.

It turned in a north-easterly direction towards Skell Bank and its dry bed continued behind the garden wall of Sunny Bank Place to become entirely lost in the field opposite Mallorie Park Drive.

High Mill, the first to be served by the race, was situated on what became the open space in front of the drill hall. It was a paper mill in the 18th century, but later became a thriving flour mill working around the clock.

Today, save for a pair of millstones which have been incorporated into the main entrance to the former drill hall - now Hugh Ripley Hall - no traces remain.

After High Mill, the river's next duties were at Duck Hill Mill at the entrance to Skellgarths. It occupied a site that covered most of the present thoroughfare. It left only a narrow roadway, barely wide enough for a single vehicle, between the mill buildings and the old Horse and Jockey inn which stood on the site of the then new county library.

Mr Michael Sanderson, the nephew of previous owners of Duck Hill Mill, now helps run his wife's bookshop in Ripon. He just missed a career in the milling business.

"The mill was owned by my grandfather, Mr Arthur Wood, in the 1940s and it was later taken on by my Uncle Henry but it went into liquidation in the mid-50s.

"During the war it did quite well because farmers had to give their corn to one supplier.

"I was doing my National Service at the time and when I came out of the RAF, I was supposed to learn the business.

"By the time it was taken over, I believe by people from Harrogate, I was living in Leeds and my career was running in a different direction."

He recalls that there was a big fire in the mill building, leaving a shell which has since been converted into a block of flats called Mill House.

From Duck Hill Mill, the race ran along Skellgarths to the Union Mill, at the north end of King Street. At one time the water ran open down the centre of the street, making it a waterway rather than a roadway.

The Union Mill was so-called because it was owned and run by a private company. The actual site is now mostly part of the road, but it used to stand opposite the entrance to Skellgarths, with part of its outbuildings extending towards Bedern Bank.

It survived in semi-derelict condition until about 1910 and was the last of the mills deriving their power from High Clough to be demolished.

The 1892 flood put its milling activities out of commission for many years. The retail business continued from its office and warehouse in King Street and the grinding was done at the North Bridge steam mill, another branch of the firm.

Further down-stream from Bondgate Bridge, the River Skell became involved in a watermill scheme dating back to medieval times.

It provided power for the two Low Mills, one of which, a flour mill, survived until 1939.

"It was a building of considerable historical and aesthetic interest and its passing a was a matter for regret," said Mr Jackson.

Hemmed in by a building estate, the other mill - originally a bone mill - was still functioning in 1948 as a turning and saw mill.

"Although costing nothing, water power had its disadvantages," he noted. "Its power was limited, 50hp being about the maximum, and there was the constant problem of supply.

"In times of flood, there was invariably too much water, and in drought periods too little, and in the latter respect the construction of the reservoir at Lumley Moor created new anxieties for the Ripon mills."

It was the invention of the roller mill that brought about the decline and fall of flour milling by water and wind power. A single roller mill could do the work of a dozen of the old type.

Imported grain and improved transport facilities also tended to centralise the industry in areas near the ports.

By the end of the 19th century, the industrial age had sealed the fate of the water mill. The 1892 floods merely hastened the inevitable end