The saga of tide mills

The paper covers, succinctly, the introduction and historical development of tide mills and their geographical distribution on the European Atlantic littoral (Great Britain, France, Spain and Portugal). Mills in the United States and Canada are reviewed briefly. The main factors which help to explain the distribution of tide mills, the different types of sites (estuaries, bays, wetlands, salt-pans, etc.) and the infrastructures and mechanical elements directly linked to their functioning (dykes, ponds, sluices, wheels) are all analysed and the, by no means insignificant, problems of conservation dealt with. The bibliographic references should prove a useful source for those wanting further information.