Marsh Mill
Encyclopedia
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 by English Heritage
.
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
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
. The original common sails were replaced with patent sails in 1896. The mill stopped working in the 1920s. From 1928–1935 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 by English Heritage
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".
brick; it is more than 70 feet (21.3 m) 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 corbel
s at the first floor level. This staging gives access to the sails.
The third floor is the stone floor, which contains four sets of millstone
s. 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.
Tower mill
A tower mill is a type of windmill which consists of a brick or stone tower, on top of which sits a roof or cap which can be turned to bring the sails into the wind....
windmill
Windmill
A windmill is a machine which converts the energy of wind into rotational energy by means of vanes called sails or blades. Originally windmills were developed for milling grain for food production. In the course of history the windmill was adapted to many other industrial uses. An important...
in Thornton, Lancashire
Thornton, Lancashire
Thornton is a village on the Fylde, in Lancashire, England, about four miles north of Blackpool and two miles south of Fleetwood. It is in the Borough of Wyre...
, 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 by English Heritage
English Heritage
English Heritage . is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...
.
History
Marsh Mill was commissioned by local landowner Bold Hesketh of Rossall Hall and built in 1794 by FyldeThe Fylde
The Fylde ; Scandinavian: "field") is a coastal plain in western Lancashire, England. It is roughly a 13-mile square-shaped peninsula, bounded by Morecambe Bay to the north, the Ribble estuary to the south, the Irish Sea to the west, and the Bowland hills to the east...
millwright
Millwright
A millwright is a craftsman or tradesman engaged with the construction and maintenance of machinery.Early millwrights were specialist carpenters who erected machines used in agriculture, food processing and processing lumber and paper...
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
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....
and Clifton
Clifton, Lancashire
Clifton is a village in the English county of Lancashire and in the district of Fylde. The village is part of the civil parish of Newton with 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
Windmill fantail
A Fantail is a small windmill mounted at right angles to the sails, at the rear of the windmill, and which turns the cap automatically to bring it into the wind. The fantail was patented in 1745 by Edmund Lee, a blacksmith working at Brockmill Forge near Wigan, England, and perfected on mills...
. The original common sails were replaced with patent sails in 1896. The mill stopped working in the 1920s. From 1928–1935 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 by English Heritage
English Heritage
English Heritage . is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...
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 renderedStucco
Stucco or render is a material made of an aggregate, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as decorative coating for walls and ceilings and as a sculptural and artistic material in architecture...
brick; it is more than 70 feet (21.3 m) 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 corbel
Corbel
In architecture a corbel is a piece of stone jutting out of a wall to carry any superincumbent weight. A piece of timber projecting in the same way was called a "tassel" or a "bragger". The technique of corbelling, where rows of corbels deeply keyed inside a wall support a projecting wall or...
s at the first floor level. This staging gives access to the sails.
The third floor is the stone floor, which contains four sets of millstone
Millstone
Millstones or mill stones are used in windmills and watermills, including tide mills, for grinding wheat or other grains.The type of stone most suitable for making millstones is a siliceous rock called burrstone , an open-textured, porous but tough, fine-grained sandstone, or a silicified,...
s. 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.