1573
Early windmill recorded
A windmill at Forton is recorded from 1573.
Site overview
Forton Monument is a ruined structure at Forton, near the Newport to Eccleshall road. The monument stands in a field known as Windmill Piece and incorporates the base of a former windmill. The earlier mill was a wind-powered corn mill, and the surviving structure was adapted as a decorative landscape feature in about 1780.
The monument was said to have been built by Charles Baldwyn and was originally capped by a stone ball. Later records describe it as a folly or eye-catcher rather than a working mill. Its present value lies in the survival of the windmill base within the later monument, although the structure has been recorded in a state of disrepair.
Detailed evidence for the mill's working machinery and final operational closure has not been identified.
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
The Forton site preserves the remains of a former windmill that was later incorporated into a landscape monument. The mill is recorded as a wind-powered corn mill, and the field in which the structure stands is known as Windmill Piece. By about 1780 the former mill base had been adapted into a decorative monument or folly, said to have been built by Charles Baldwyn.
The structure was originally capped by a stone ball, giving it the character of an eye-catcher rather than a working industrial building. Later descriptions identify the visible remains as Forton Monument and record that it incorporates the base of the earlier windmill. No detailed shafting, cap, sail, or machinery evidence has been identified in the consulted records, and the end date for the windmill's working life is not separately stated beyond its conversion into the monument.
By the late twentieth century the monument had fallen into disrepair, and later photographic records show it as a ruined survival.
Timeline
1780
Converted into Forton Monument
The former windmill base was incorporated into a monument or folly said to have been built by Charles Baldwyn.
1900–1999
Monument in disrepair
During the late twentieth century the monument was recorded as having fallen into disrepair.
Sources and records
Staffordshire Past Track record: Forton Monument
Windmill World entry: Forton windmill
Genuki transcription: Forton in 1817, Staffordshire
Geograph photograph record: Forton Monument
Windmill World entry: Forton windmill
Genuki transcription: Forton in 1817, Staffordshire
Geograph photograph record: Forton Monument