Little Marton Mill

Little Marton Mill
Origin
Mill location Blackpool, Lancashire
Grid reference SD 349,341
Coordinates 53°47′57″N 2°59′23″W / 53.7991°N 2.9898°W / 53.7991; -2.9898Coordinates: 53°47′57″N 2°59′23″W / 53.7991°N 2.9898°W / 53.7991; -2.9898
Year built 1838
Information
Purpose Corn mill
Type Tower mill
Storeys Four
Number of sails Four
Fantail blades Eight
Listed Building – Grade II
Designated 20 October 1983
Reference no. 1205764

Little Marton Mill is a 19th-century English tower windmill in Marton, now part of Blackpool, Lancashire. It was built in 1838 by John Hays for grinding corn, and worked until 1928. It has been designated a Grade II listed building by Historic England.[1]

History and assessment

Little Marton Mill was built in 1838 by millwright John Hays for John Whalley, on the site of a previous mill.[2][3] It was once one of several gristmills in the area, and is the last remaining of perhaps four mills that once stood within the current boundaries of Blackpool.[4] The hamlet of Little Marton was part of the township of Marton which, by the end of the 19th century, was incorporated into Blackpool and St Anne's-on-the-Sea.[5] Marton had a watermill until the mid-18th century, and another wind-powered gristmill up to the late 19th century, both at Great Marton.[4] Little Marton Mill was later worked by a miller named Cornelius Bagot.[2] It stopped working in September 1928.[6] Bagot restored the mill and in 1937 gave it to the Allen Clarke Memorial Fund as a memorial to local teacher, writer and windmill enthusiast C. Allen Clarke (1863–1935).[2][7] The mill was extensively renovated in 1987 at a cost of £88,000.[2]

Little Marton Mill is situated on a green, close to the M55 motorway and is a familiar landmark on this major route into the seaside resort.[2][8] Historic England designated the windmill a Grade II listed building on 20 October 1983.[1] The Grade II designation—the lowest of the three grades—is for buildings that are "nationally important and of special interest".[9]

Structure

For a general explanation of the elements of windmill machinery, see Mill machinery.

Little Marton Mill is of a typical style for windmills built in the Fylde. On four storeys (including a basement), it has a circular plan and a broad base in proportion to its height. It is constructed of stuccoed, whitewashed brick.[1][8] On the exterior wall there is a commemorative plaque to local writer Allen Clarke.[2] The mill is entered through double doors (at basement level) to the east, and a single door to the west.[1] There are square windows at the first, second and third storeys.[1]

Typically for Fylde windmills, the cap (replaced in 1987) is boat-shaped.[1][2] There are four sails and a fantail with eight blades. The machinery is incomplete as some of it is now at Lytham Windmill.[2]

See also

References

Footnotes
  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Little Marton Mill", National Heritage List for England, English Heritage, retrieved 25 June 2011
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Dunkerley, Paul, "Little Marton Mill", Engineering Timelines, retrieved 25 June 2011
  3. ↑ Lancashire County Council & Egerton Lea Consultancy (2005), p. 3
  4. 1 2 Lancashire County Council & Egerton Lea Consultancy (2005), p. 25
  5. ↑ Farrer & Brownbill (1912), pp. 239–242
  6. ↑ Her Majesty's Stationery Office, p. 132
  7. ↑ Berry, Mark (25 May 2011). "Little Marton windmill, Lancashire". Windmill World. Retrieved 1 July 2011.
  8. 1 2 Hartwell & Pevsner, p. 163
  9. ↑ "Listed Buildings", National Heritage List for England, English Heritage, retrieved 13 June 2011
Sources
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