Damside Windmill

Damside Windmill
Looking southwest, 2009
Map
Origin
Mill locationPilling, Lancashire, England
Coordinates53°55′52″N 2°54′14″W / 53.9310771°N 2.9038817°W / 53.9310771; -2.9038817
Year built1808; 216 years ago (1808)
Information
TypeTower mill
StoreysFive
WindshaftCast iron

Damside Windmill (also known as Pilling Windmill and The Old Mill) is a tower windmill in the English village of Pilling, Lancashire.[1] It was built in 1808 by Ralph Slater, builder of similar structures in the area, such as Marsh Mill. An earlier mill was marked here on Yates's 1786 map of Lancashire.[2]

The mill converted to steam power in 1870,[2] and the sails were removed in 1887. It continued to operate until the 1920s,[2] after which it fell into disrepair. By 1975, the mill had been restored for use as a private residence. The top of the windmill was restored with a traditional wooden cap in 2007, restoring it to its original height of 73 feet (22 m).[3]

Inventor Richard Gornall worked out of a barn attached to the mill in the late 19th century.[4]

  1. ^ "Keeping the mills of old Lancashire turning"Blackpool Gazette, 11 October, 2018
  2. ^ a b c The industrial archaeology of north-west England, Owen Ashmore (1982), p. 216 ISBN 9780719008207
  3. ^ A Short History of Pilling Windmill : 1808–2007 Archived 25 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine accessed 16 October 2011
  4. ^ "Lancashire's family of madcap inventors"Lancashire Post, 19 May, 2017