Marsh Mill | ||||||||||
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Origin | ||||||||||
Mill location | Thornton, Lancashire | |||||||||
Grid reference | SD 335 426 | |||||||||
Coordinates | 53°52′30″N 3°00′43″W / 53.8749°N 3.0120°W | |||||||||
Year built | 1794 | |||||||||
Information | ||||||||||
Purpose | Corn mill | |||||||||
Type | Tower mill | |||||||||
Storeys | Five | |||||||||
No. of sails | Four | |||||||||
Type of sails | Patent sails | |||||||||
Windshaft | Cast iron | |||||||||
Winding | Fantail | |||||||||
Fantail blades | Eight | |||||||||
No. of pairs of millstones | Four | |||||||||
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Marsh Mill is an 18th-century tower windmill in Thornton, Lancashire, England. It was built in 1794 by Ralph Slater for local landowner Bold Hesketh. It functioned as a corn mill 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. [1]
Marsh Mill was commissioned by local landowner Bold Hesketh of Rossall Hall and built in 1794 by Fylde millwright Ralph Slater. [2] [3] Marsh Mill was named after the marshy area in the north Fylde that was drained by Hesketh for the mill's construction. [4] Slater was a well-known millwright in the area; he also built mills at Pilling and Clifton. [5] The mill was initially used to grind different grades of flour. [6] From the early 19th century, it was used to grind meal for farm animal feed. [4] [6] In the 19th century, the original chain and wheel winding gear was replaced with a four bladed fantail. [1] [6] The original common sails were replaced with patent sails in 1896. [1] The mill stopped working in the 1920s. [7] From 1928 to 1935 Marsh Mill functioned as a café. [4] 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. [4]
It was designated a Grade II* listed building on 24 March 1950. [1] The Grade II* designation—the second highest of the three grades—is for "particularly important buildings of more than special interest". [8] Beginning in 1965, a 20-year restoration took place by the Marsh Mill Preservation Society. [5] Further restoration was completed in 1990, bringing the machinery to full working order. [1] [4] It has been described as the "best preserved" and "finest" windmill in the north-west of England. [5] [6] [9] English Heritage have called it "an exceptionally complete example of a tower windmill in a national context". [1]
Marsh Mill is built of rendered brick; it is more than 70 feet (21 m) tall and has five storeys. [6] [10] The tower tapers and it has plain square windows. [5] There is a two-storey kiln house attached. [1] The ground floor and first floor are storage areas and have drying rooms. [6] The second floor is the meal floor. [1] It contains corn-dressing machinery. [6] 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. [1] This staging gives access to the sails. [6]
The third floor is the stone floor, which contains four sets of millstones. [1] The top floor is the dust floor. [6] Like many Fylde windmills, the tower is topped with a boat-shaped wooden cap. [1] [6] It now has a "Lees Flyer" fantail. [5]