Felin-y-gors

Cadw's description

Location

150m S of the A55 and 1km E of Bodelwyddan Castle.

History

The extensive series of ponds in the valley above Felin-y-gors indicates a substantial history of milling on this stream. There is said to have been an earlier corn mill on a higher site. The present building appears to date from the period of Hansom''s alterations to Bodelwyddan Castle, c1830-42, and it was clearly intended to serve as a picturesque object as well as a mill, with its only decorative front facing towards the Castle. It predates or is contemporary with the Park wall.

The mill wheel is said to have been of iron, manufactured by a German (or German named) firm. The mill contained a large pair of stones centrally in the east half and a smaller pair of stones nearby close to the north wall, a recess for which is now used for display in the living room.

The mill lost its machinery and its upper floor in the mid C20. It was rescued from dereliction by the present owners c1982 and converted to domestic use, preserving what little remained of mill fittings internally. A large framework of timbers has been retained although the purlins it stands on have been renewed. The mill is now completely floored at each level including what was the wheel pit at the E end. It was slightly enlarged to the S side, converting one of the upper blind windows of the decorative facade to a true window. The formerly blind or louvred window openings on the decorative west elevation have been brought into use.

The trace of a former building with an M roof against the E gable is visible.

Exterior

A mill in limestone rubble with slate gabled roof. The W gable end is of 3 windows and has a crenellated parapet over both flanking bays and rising over the projecting centre gable. On the ground floor the centre bay has a wide pointed entrance arch and the end bays have narrower pointed window openings. The upper floor has a pointed central window and circular openings in the flanking bays.

The E gable has a small modern window at high level and a larger opening, now a window but retaining the hinge pins of former double doors, at ground level.

The N elevation to the lane is irregular with a slighly advanced left part, including 2 filled ventilation slits, a centre part with 3 modern windows, and a right part considerably advanced under a catslide roof, with a single modern window. The S elevation to the pond is completely altered.

Interior

The wheel pit at the E end of the building is a space about 2.4m in width, and there is said to be a deep pit beneath this, the wheel having been an overshot one of considerably size. A hole in the wall from the present sitting room may have been for a control working a sluice on the end of the launder.

There is a masonry stone wall dividing the wheel chamber for the full height of the building. The main part of the mill, to the W of this, is in 2 structural bays with a C19 king-post truss. There are no other observable internal dating features.

Reason for designation

Included notwithstanding alterations as an estate built corn mill, retaining a fine decorative front which serves as a picturesque landscape item seen from Bodelwyddan Castle.