Colton Mill At Colton Mill Farm

A windmill and associated mill buildings, likely dating from the mid-18th century with alterations and additions in the mid-19th century. The structures are built of sandstone, brick, and slate. The complex consists of three linked buildings: a three-story former windmill with a circular base that sharply tapers upwards to a conical slate roof; a three-story, two-bay, gabled stone granary on the north-west side; and a two-story, two-phase brick engine house on the south. A boiler house that formerly stood to the east of the engine house has been demolished. The windmill has a stone ground floor and a brick upper floor, with square-headed blocked openings on the ground floor and segmental-arched openings above. It features a dentilled cornice below the rebuilt eaves. The interior of the windmill contains surviving machinery from its conversion to steam power, including a spur-wheel, under-driven millstones, a sack-hoist, a winding drum, remains of hoppers, timber screens, and a stair. There are no visible remains of the external walkway used to control the sails; the upper portion of the windmill was likely rebuilt when the sails were removed and steam power was introduced. The granary is constructed of weathered stone, possibly reusing materials, with a central entrance on both the ground and first floors, flanked by windows. All openings have thin stone lintels and the gable copings are prominent; the right return has paired windows and oval tie-bar plaques, while the left return provides access to each of the three floors of the mill. It retains a common-rafter roof. The engine house has a mid-19th century eastern end with segmental-arched windows and a bay added to the west around 1900. The walls were originally plastered. Surviving machinery includes a single-cylinder steam engine with an approximately 2-meter diameter flywheel with curved spokes, a drive wheel, an overhead friction line shaft, two tall water tanks against the east wall, a 3-meter diameter flywheel with compass spokes and a deep rim, and a smaller spoked friction drive wheel set in a wheel pit against the north wall. The drive transmitted power through the wall directly into the mill, and the later bay may have housed a threshing machine. The surviving steam engine was installed around 1902, and the steam boiler was replaced by a gas engine around 1915. The group is currently disused and in a derelict condition.