1835
Lyth Hill windmill built
The windmill on Lyth Hill was built about 1835.
Site overview
Lyth Hill mill at Bayston Hill was a tower windmill associated with flax, hemp, and rope-making rather than ordinary corn milling. It stood on Lyth Hill, south of Bayston Hill and Shrewsbury, where the supplied coordinates match the Windmill World and Mills Archive location. The mill is recorded as a flax mill, rope mill, and scutching mill, processing hemp and flax fibres and driving a rope walk.
Local countryside material states that the windmill was built about 1835 and that the windmill and rope walk were operating in 1841. The rope walk is shown on the 1881 Ordnance Survey map. The Davies family carried out rope manufacture there until around 1890.
Later evidence records the remains of the windmill on the Lyth Hill route. The surviving record is strongest for function and landscape setting rather than detailed machinery or closure.
Map
Map markers and directions links are provided for location reference only and do not indicate public access or permission to enter a site.
No site photograph is currently available. Images will be added as field visits are carried out.
History
Lyth Hill mill was a tower windmill on Lyth Hill at Bayston Hill, Shropshire. The supplied coordinates correspond to Bayston Hill rather than central Shrewsbury. Unlike many rural windmills, this site is recorded as a flax, hemp, scutching, and rope-making mill.
The windmill prepared flax and hemp fibres, which were then twisted into rope for ships, mines, and farms. The associated rope walk extended from the east towards the area north of the present Lyth Hill viewpoint car park and is shown on the 1881 Ordnance Survey mapping. Local countryside material states that the windmill was built about 1835 and that both the windmill and rope walk were operating in 1841.
The Davies family carried on rope manufacture at the site until around 1890. Specialist mill records identify the site as Tower mill, Lyth Hill, Bayston Hill, with the same industrial functions. Later route material identifies the windmill remains on Lyth Hill, but the sources consulted do not provide a full structural description, machinery inventory, or exact final closure date.
Timeline
1841
Windmill and rope walk operating
The windmill and associated rope walk were operating by 1841.
1881
Rope walk shown on mapping
The rope walk associated with the windmill is shown on the 1881 Ordnance Survey map.
1890
Rope manufacture ceased around 1890
The Davies family carried out rope manufacture at Lyth Hill until around 1890.
Sources and records
Windmill World entry: Bayston Hill windmill, Shropshire
Mills Archive record: Tower mill, Lyth Hill, Bayston Hill
Shropshire Great Outdoors walk leaflet: Lyth Hill Circular
Shropshire Great Outdoors leaflet: Ropey Old Lyth Hill
Mills Archive record: Tower mill, Lyth Hill, Bayston Hill
Shropshire Great Outdoors walk leaflet: Lyth Hill Circular
Shropshire Great Outdoors leaflet: Ropey Old Lyth Hill