Felin Ganol

Cadw's description

Location

Situated on E side of village, alongside by-road, E of Maes-y-felin. Afon Wyre to S, Afon Carrog to N.

History

Late C18/early C19 corn mill and house. Shown on 1841 Tithe map. Later C19/early C20 alterations and additions, including late C19 rebuilding of kiln. The owner in 1841 was David Saunders Davies and the occupier, Richard Morgan. Birthplace of D.Wyre Lewis, bard, in 1872.

Exterior

Attached to N, roughly T-plan with the mill itself forming a cross-range and the warehouse at the N end. Gable fronted mill with slightly lower gabled addition in front. Four-pane window with boarded basement door below: concrete lintels. Boarded door to N. Long projecting rear, the S side with boarded door to left (short flight of steps), 4-pane window to right with 6-pane window below. Windows with timber lintels. Rear gable end with large (restored) cast-iron overshot wheel: wooden scoops and spokes. Restored wooden controllable overthrow. Concrete-lined wheel-pit. The wheel is served by a large mill-pond immediately to the N and the pit is drained out to the Afon Wyre. Weather-boarded rear gable. Large two storey warehouse to N, the upper storey rebuilt in concrete block. Three wide doorways below, that to the right altered with inserted door and window.

Interior

Mill machinery intact. Basement with cast iron pit-wheel at end of wheel-shaft: this meshes with a cast iron wallower at the base of the massive vertical timber shaft. Wooden spur-wheel above, of clasp-arm type: this drives two iron stone-nuts, set on oak bridge-trees. Altered/repaired hurst-frame with short layshaft to side, driven from the pit-wheel by a wooden toothed bevel cog. Belt-pulley at outer end of shaft. Meal-trough fed via wooden spouts from grinding floor above. Timber framed sack-trap and wire-machine: the latter is secondary. Grindstone set in floor. Three massive beams with rough joists. Upper floor with two enclosed grinding wheels with horse-framed wooden hoppers above. Left stone of granite in octagonal case. The other stone is of French-burr type with maker's plate (Kay and Hilton of Liverpool). Sack-hoist. Wheel and cogs for operating slack-belt sack-hoist. Floor-hatch. Part-loft. Four-bay collar-truss roof, rough trusses and collars, paired purlins: pegged joints. Added front portion of mill consists of office over basement. Drying kiln between mill and house with tiled floor (some tiles stamped "Catheral"). Feeding-spout from attic. Substructure of kiln (reached from yard below) is of brick: hearth surround of yellow brick and red brick half-vault.

Reason for designation

Listed as a rare example of a West Wales corn-mill, complete with machinery.