Sails and Cap, Little Marton Mill

Image: © David Dixon Taken: 19 Jan 2014

A closer view of the boat-shaped cap, typical of windmills built in Fylde. also the four sails and 8-bladed fantail. See also Image Little Marton Mill is a 19th-century English tower windmill in Marton, Blackpool. It is situated on a green at the side of Preston New Road (A538), close to the M55 motorway and is a familiar landmark on this major route into the seaside resort. The last remaining of several gristmills in the area, Little Marton Mill was built in 1838 by millwright John Hays, on the site of a previous mill. It stopped working in September 1928 was restored in 1937 given to the Allen Clarke Memorial Fund as a memorial to local teacher, writer and windmill enthusiast Allen Clarke (1863–1935). In 1955, the mill passed into the care of Blackpool Corporation. It was extensively renovated in 1987. Little Marton Mill is of a style which is typical 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. There are four sails and a fantail with eight blades. Typically for Fylde windmills, the cap (replaced in 1987) is boat-shaped. It is designated as a grade II Listed Building (English Heritage ID:183668 http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-183668-little-marton-mill-non-civil-parish- British Listed Buildings). In the listing, English Heritage describe it as “an exceptionally complete example of a tower windmill in a national context, and represents a highly significant specialist industrial building type, once nationally widespread” The machinery is incomplete as some of it is now at Image http://www.littlemartonwindmill.org.uk/ Friends of little Marton Windmill

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