1796
Broad Eye Windmill built
Broad Eye Windmill was built at Stafford as a tower windmill.
Site overview
Broad Eye Windmill stands in Stafford as a surviving tower mill built in 1796. It operated as a wind-powered mill for about a century before its sails were removed in 1897. During the following century the building was reused by a succession of businesses, including a butcher.
The tower has since been conserved and is associated with community and heritage use, including Windmill Broadcasting and the Friends of Broad Eye Windmill. It is also identified as being adapted as an industrial heritage museum. The surviving structure is a prominent tower mill beside the River Sow, and its later history shows a long sequence of non-milling reuse after the end of wind-powered operation.
The principal surviving evidence concerns the tower, conservation, and reuse rather than a detailed internal machinery record.
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
Broad Eye Windmill was built at Stafford in 1796 as a tower windmill. Its construction followed a period in which existing water-powered capacity in Stafford was insufficient for local flour needs, and the mill became part of the town's late eighteenth-century milling landscape. It worked as a wind-powered mill for approximately one hundred years.
In 1897 the sails were removed, marking the end of its operation as a conventional windmill. After milling ceased, the tower entered a long period of alternative use. Over the next century a number of businesses used the building, including a butcher.
The mill later became the focus of conservation and community activity. It is associated with Windmill Broadcasting and is cared for by the Friends of Broad Eye Windmill. The surviving building is a tower mill, conserved rather than restored to full working milling use, and has been described as being adapted as an industrial heritage museum.
The site therefore illustrates a full post-milling sequence: working windmill, loss of sails, commercial reuse, conservation, and later heritage or community function.
Timeline
1796–1897
Wind-powered milling period
The mill operated as a windmill for about one hundred years.
1897
Sails removed
The sails were removed, ending the mill's working windmill form.
1900–1999
Commercial reuse
The former windmill was used by several businesses after milling ended, including a butcher.
2000
Conservation and heritage use
The tower was conserved and associated with community and industrial heritage use.
Sources and records
Windmill World entry: Broad Eye, Stafford
Mills Archive database entry: Broad Eye Mill
Broad Eye Windmill article
Friends of Broad Eye Windmill information
Mills Archive database entry: Broad Eye Mill
Broad Eye Windmill article
Friends of Broad Eye Windmill information