Former Saw Mill

Cadw's description

Location

Approximately 100m SW of parish church, set back from the road and on S side of a yard, with a mill race on its south side.

History

Probably a corn mill originally, and first shown on a map of Merthyr Mawr Estate in 1794. The Merthyr Mawr Estate was purchased by Sir John Nicholl in 1804. The mill was sited on glebe land together with a tithe barn. After 1843 the building was modified and extended to become an estate saw mill, which is shown in its present form in the Ordnance Survey of 1899.

Exterior

A single-storey mill consisting of a main gabled mill range with a long lower gabled wing on the W side, both of which have lean-tos on the N side and mill race on S side. Of rubble stone, the main mill with slate roof, the wing and lean-tos with corrugated iron roofs. The main mill is extended on E side and slightly set back from earlier wall on the S side. The E (upstream) gable end has late C19 walls of snecked stone, and a weatherboarded gable with loft door offset to R and a fixed attic light above it. The S side wall has a cast iron breast-shot waterwheel (the buckets rusted and partly missing), and a penstock, above which is a narrow window with brick surround beneath a former control rod projecting from the wall. The W gable end, above the lower wing, is similar to E gable end. The wing is built above a plinth course on the S side which forms the wall of the tailrace. In the S wall is a single window under a segmental brick head and with wood mullions. In the W gable end is a low doorway under a brick segmental head, aligned with the saws and bench inside the building. A wide inserted doorway is in the N wall, L of which is an open-fronted lean-to.

Interior

Attached to the waterwheel axle are gear wheels, pulley wheels, belts and line shafting for the distribution of power. In the main mill is long bench with rollers, the timber entering the building through the E end. In the wing is a framework for the saw, the timber being passed out through the opening in the west wall.

The main mill has a flagstone floor, the wing and earth floor. In the N wall the main mill has 2 segmental-headed doorways to the open-fronted lean-to.

Reason for designation

A good example of a C19 estate saw mill retaining original fixtures, and for group value with other associated listed items on the Merthyr Mawr Estate.