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# ✨ Treasure Hoard: The evil-warding marks at Marsh Mill, Thornton
- URL: https://www.digest.andymarshall.co/treasure-hoard-the-evil-warding-marks-at-marsh-mill-thornton/
- Published: 2026-09-01T15:51:06.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-01T15:51:06.000Z
- Description: The mill is wonderfully complete inside and has been etched with protective marks on its most important parts
- Author: Andy  Marshall
- Tags: Treasure, thornton, lancashire, marsh mill, windmill, #treasure-43

Marsh Mill rises above Thornton as a remarkable survivor of Lancashire’s rural industrial past. 

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2e/b6/2eb6d776-18dd-41f1-a2d1-b76fa2d605be/content/images/2026/09/Marsh-Mill1.jpg)

Built in 1794 by Fylde millwright Ralph Slater for Bold Fleetwood Hesketh, the five-storey tower windmill once ground locally grown grain. 

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2e/b6/2eb6d776-18dd-41f1-a2d1-b76fa2d605be/content/images/2026/09/IMG_1278.jpeg)

It continued working until 1922 and was restored to operating condition between 1986 and 1990\. Complete with its drying kiln, sails and much of its historic machinery, this Grade II\*-listed structure is believed to be the only mechanically complete windmill of its kind remaining in north-west England

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2e/b6/2eb6d776-18dd-41f1-a2d1-b76fa2d605be/content/images/2026/09/Marsh-Mill2.jpg)

The mill is wonderfully complete inside and has been etched with protective marks on its most important parts - in particular, the sack hoist shaft which harbours a faint pair of apotropaic hexafoils. 

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2e/b6/2eb6d776-18dd-41f1-a2d1-b76fa2d605be/content/images/2026/09/Marsh-Mill68.jpg)

They are more prevalent in churches and it's unusual to find them in such an industrial/agricultural setting. Other parts of the timbers show signs of having had candle marks burnt into them - thought to protect from fire.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2e/b6/2eb6d776-18dd-41f1-a2d1-b76fa2d605be/content/images/2026/09/Marsh-Mill178.jpg)

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