Stanford Windmill

Stanford Windmill is a tower mill constructed in 1851 by the millwright, John Hill of Ashford. It is a building of group value. The mill is built of yellow and pale red stock brick laid in English bond; the lower level’s tarred finish has been removed.

The plan comprises a cylindrical base containing the first two floors, surmounted by a tapering upper section and a timber-framed, boat-shaped cap. The lower part features eight, two-stage buttresses with sandstone capping, which formerly supported a timber gallery at second-floor level. The cap is clad in corrugated asbestos-cement, and the sweeps and fanstage have been removed. Small, four-centred arched windows contain cast-iron casements; those on the lower floors have twelve panes, while those on the upper floors have nine. Sandstone sills and brick 'eyebrow' drip mouldings feature. A shallow brick arch leads to the north entrance, with a batten door. Doors originally existed at first and second floor levels; the first-floor door was for hoisting grain sacks, and the opposed second-floor doors provided access to the gallery, though the two second-floor doors have been converted into square-headed timber casement windows.

The mill has five floors, identified as the Dust floor, Bin floor, Stone floor, and Spout floor, supported by heavy frames of Baltic pine, with the Stone floor reinforced by iron stanchions. One beam supporting the Stone floor bears the inscription 'BUILT BY/ JOHN HOGBEN/ HILL MAY 1851 MILLWht'. Each floor has a sack hoist trapdoor set vertically above the ones below.

Significant surviving elements of the machinery remain, including the curb (circular track for the cap’s rotation), brake wheel, wind shaft, wallower, upright shaft, great spur wheel, stone and machine nuts and shafts, tentering gear, and grain/meal/dresser bins and chutes, most constructed of cast-iron. Two pairs of millstones remain: one of flinty quartz (French Burr) for flour production, and one of Millstone Grit (Derbyshire Peak) for animal feed. The original enclosing timber tuns and hoppers are lost.

The windmill is adjoined by a brick wall and arch connecting it to a modern house to the east. A relocated K6 telephone kiosk is located at the foot of the windmill to the north-west. These structures are excluded from the listing.