1700–1799
Broadhill tower built
The surviving Broadhill windmill tower is recorded as probably eighteenth century.
Site overview
The windmill tower on Broadhill at Gnosall, also associated with Beffcote Mill, is a surviving former wind-powered corn mill. It is recorded as a tower mill and is protected as a Grade II listed building. The listed fabric is probably eighteenth century and consists of a battered round stone-rubble tower.
The tower is roofless and has rectangular openings. Specialist mill records identify it as a corn mill and note that it has been converted for domestic use. The earliest parish-level evidence records a windmill in the manor of Gnosall in 1748, although the precise relationship between that reference and the surviving Broadhill tower is not fully detailed in the consulted records.
The present site is principally a surviving tower structure rather than a complete working mill.
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 Broadhill windmill tower at Gnosall is a surviving stone tower mill, also recorded in mill databases as Beffcote Mill. It was a wind-powered corn mill. The listed building description identifies the structure as probably eighteenth century and describes it as a battered round stone-rubble tower with rectangular openings.
The tower is roofless in the statutory description. Wider parish history records a windmill in the manor of Gnosall in 1748, showing wind-milling activity in the parish by the mid-eighteenth century. Specialist mill records give the Broadhill tower a grid reference at Gnosall and identify it as a corn mill, with later domestic conversion.
The building was listed at Grade II in 1972. No detailed operating sequence, machinery inventory, or closure date has been identified for the surviving tower, so the documentary record is strongest for its structural survival, listing, and broad milling function.
Timeline
1748
Windmill recorded in Gnosall manor
A windmill was recorded in the manor of Gnosall.
1972
Grade II listing
The Windmill Tower on Broadhill was listed at Grade II.
Sources and records
Historic England National Heritage List for England entry: Windmill Tower on Broadhill
Mills Archive entry: Beffcote Mill, Gnosall
Windmill World entry: Beffcote, Gnosall
Staffordshire Past Track parish history: Gnosall
Listed buildings in Gnosall summary
Mills Archive entry: Beffcote Mill, Gnosall
Windmill World entry: Beffcote, Gnosall
Staffordshire Past Track parish history: Gnosall
Listed buildings in Gnosall summary