1342
Earlier mill site recorded
A windmill site at Walton Hill is recorded before the surviving tower mill.
Site overview
Walton windmill stands on Walton Hill in the Polden Hills. A mill site there is recorded earlier, and the surviving tower mill is probably late eighteenth century. A stone inscribed 1792 was later rebuilt into a fireplace when the mill was converted to a dwelling.
The windmill continued working into the early twentieth century and stopped sometime between 1906 and 1910. Charles Phillips was the last miller, running the mill with a bakery and grocery business from about 1890. The tower was converted into a dwelling in 1926, when the tower was heightened and the sails and machinery were removed.
The structure is Grade II listed and is described as a slightly tapering, circular, colourwashed rubble tower of four storeys. Its survival is significant as a large converted tower mill in a prominent landscape position.
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
Walton windmill occupies a prominent site on Walton Hill. The site had an earlier windmill history, and the listed description records the surviving tower as probably built in 1793 for Thomas, Marquis of Bath, on an earlier site. A stone inscribed 1792 was later rebuilt into a fireplace when the mill was converted into a dwelling.
The mill was one of the Somerset windmills that continued to work by wind into the twentieth century. Its last miller was Charles Phillips, who ran the mill together with a bakery and grocery business from about 1890. Milling stopped sometime between 1906 and 1910.
The former mill was converted into a dwelling in 1926 by the Vicar of Westonzoyland; at that time the tower was heightened and the sails and machinery were removed. The tower is described as parallel-sided in one industrial archaeology account, and as slightly tapering in the listed description. It is circular on plan, colourwashed, built of coursed and squared rubble, and has four storeys with metal casement windows.
Three French Burr stones were recorded embedded in the ground outside the mill, two of 4 feet 6 inches diameter and one of 4 feet 2 inches diameter. Walton Windmill was first listed at Grade II on 13 January 1986. It survives as a dwelling and as a conspicuous former windmill in the Polden Hills landscape.
Timeline
1741
New-erected windmill described
Walton windmill was described as new-erected in 1741.
1792–1793
Surviving tower built
The surviving tower mill is associated with an inscribed 1792 stone and is listed as probably built in 1793.
1890–1906
Charles Phillips worked the mill
Charles Phillips ran the mill with a bakery and grocery business from about 1890.
1906–1910
Milling stopped
The windmill finally stopped work sometime between 1906 and 1910.
1926
Converted to dwelling
The tower was converted into a dwelling, heightened, and stripped of sails and machinery.
1986
Grade II listing
Walton Windmill was first listed at Grade II.
Sources and records
Windmill World entry: Walton windmill
Historic England list entry: Walton Windmill
Bristol Industrial Archaeology Society Journal Vol. 6: Windmills of Somerset
Wikipedia article: Walton and Ivythorn Hills
Historic England list entry: Walton Windmill
Bristol Industrial Archaeology Society Journal Vol. 6: Windmills of Somerset
Wikipedia article: Walton and Ivythorn Hills