Marsh Mill is an 18th-century
tower
A tower is a tall structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting structures.
Towers are specifi ...
windmill
A windmill is a structure that converts wind power into rotational energy using vanes called sails or blades, specifically to mill grain (gristmills), but the term is also extended to windpumps, wind turbines, and other applications, in some ...
in
Thornton, Lancashire
Thornton is a village in the Borough of Wyre, about north of Blackpool and south of Fleetwood. The civil parish of Thornton became an urban district in 1900, and was renamed Thornton-Cleveleys in 1927. In 2011 the Thornton built-up area sub di ...
, England. It was built in 1794 by
Ralph Slater for local landowner Bold Hesketh. It functioned as a
corn mill
A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that has been separate ...
until the 1920s and has been fully restored. It is a good example of a complete English windmill and has been designated a Grade II*
listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
.
History
Marsh Mill was commissioned by local landowner Bold Hesketh of
Rossall Hall
Rossall is a settlement in Lancashire, England and a suburb of the market town of Fleetwood. It is situated on a coastal plain called The Fylde. Blackpool Tramway runs through Rossall, with two stations: Rossall School on Broadway and Rossall Squ ...
and built in 1794 by
Fylde millwright Ralph Slater.
Marsh Mill was named after the marshy area in the north Fylde that was drained by Hesketh for the mill's construction.
Slater was a well-known millwright in the area; he also built mills at
Pilling
Pilling is a village and civil parish within the Wyre borough of Lancashire, England. It is north-northeast of Poulton-le-Fylde, south-southwest of Lancaster and northwest of Preston, in a part of the Fylde known as Over Wyre.
The ci ...
and
Clifton.
The mill was initially used to grind different grades of flour.
From the early 19th century, it was used to grind meal for farm animal feed.
In the 19th century, the original chain and wheel winding gear was replaced with a four bladed
fantail
Fantails are small insectivorous songbirds of the genus ''Rhipidura'' in the family Rhipiduridae, native to Australasia, Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent. Most of the species are about long, specialist aerial feeders, and named as " ...
.
The original
common sails were replaced with
patent sails in 1896.
The mill stopped working in the 1920s.
From 1928 to 1935 Marsh Mill functioned as a café.
In 1930, two women who intended to buy the mill fell and died while inspecting it when the fantail staging collapsed when they stood on it.
It was designated a Grade II*
listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
on 24 March 1950.
The Grade II* designation—the second highest of the three grades—is for "particularly important buildings of more than special interest".
Beginning in 1965, a 20-year restoration took place by the Marsh Mill Preservation Society.
Further restoration was completed in 1990, bringing the machinery to full working order.
It has been described as the "best preserved" and "finest" windmill in the north-west of England.
English Heritage have called it "an exceptionally complete example of a tower windmill in a national context".
Structure
Marsh Mill is built of
rendered brick; it is more than tall and has five storeys.
The tower tapers and it has plain square windows.
There is a two-storey kiln house attached.
The ground floor and first floor are storage areas and have drying rooms.
The second floor is the meal floor.
It contains corn-dressing machinery.
At the second floor, there is an external wooden stage that encircles the tower and is supported by stone
corbels at the first floor level.
This staging gives access to the sails.
The third floor is the stone floor, which contains four sets of
millstones.
The top floor is the dust floor.
Like many Fylde windmills, the tower is topped with a boat-shaped wooden cap.
It now has a "Lees Flyer" fantail.
See also
*
Listed buildings in Thornton-Cleveleys
*
List of windmills in Lancashire
A list of windmills in Lancashire, including those now within Greater Manchester and Merseyside.
Locations
A – C
F – K
L
M – P
R – W
Notes
Mills in bold text are still standing. Known building dates are also indicated in bold ...
References
;Footnotes
;Sources
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External links
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{{Borough of Wyre buildings
Buildings and structures in the Borough of Wyre
Grade II* listed buildings in Lancashire
Grade II* listed windmills
Windmills in Lancashire
The Fylde
Tower mills in the United Kingdom
Windmills completed in 1794
1794 establishments in England