Empacombe Mill Maker · Cornwall · England

Empacombe Mill is the former tower windmill at Maker, near Mount Edgcumbe and the western side of Plymouth Sound. It is recorded in specialist mill sources as Maker windmill and as Empacombe Mill, and its working function is identified as a corn mill. The site is part of the small group of Cornish tower mill survivals that retain visible masonry fabric after the loss of cap, sails and machinery.

The mill is associated with the historic post-medieval landscape around Mount Edgcumbe. Local heritage accounts describe it as a substantial tower built from local sandstone, standing over 25 feet high with walls up to 4 feet thick. Its windows and doorways are recorded as having moulded granite detail, indicating a more carefully finished structure than a simple agricultural ruin. The tower’s position and construction suggest that it was a prominent feature in the local landscape during and after its working life.

The early date of the mill is recorded differently across summary sources, with one Cornish windmill list placing Empacombe Mill at Maker in 1729 and later local heritage writing suggesting a date around 1769. By the nineteenth century the tower had lost its working role. The mill was recorded on the tithe map and by the 1866 Ordnance Survey it was noted as being in ruins, with later maps marking it as disused or as Old Windmill.

Photographic and archive records preserve the later state of the tower as a shell, including views of the surviving doorway. The present significance of Empacombe Mill lies in the survival of the stone tower, its association with Maker and Mount Edgcumbe, and its place among the relatively small number of Cornish windmill remains still legible in the landscape.