Melin Adda (Pentrefelin)
This windmill stands at the outskirts of Amlwch, next to the leisure centre. It is currently used as a dwelling, having been first restored for living use in the mid-1970s (see photo below). It has since been renovated, with a new roof and balcony added along with a set of crossed timbers to emulate the original windmill sails.
A watermill has stood in this area since at least 1352 when it was mentioned in the Extent of Anglesey. Deeds from 1763 mention the watermill, when it was sold by Henry Williams to Robert Jones. Hugh Roberts was running the mill at the time. By 1789, when Robert Jones leased the property to Thomas Williams, a windmill had been added to the property, next to the watermill.
In 1812, after Thomas Williams' death, the lease was sold to a group of merchants and gentlemen (John Price, Henry Price, Theophilus Jones, Jonathan Roose, James Roose and Joseph Jones), later called the Melin Adda Company. Part shares in the lease changed hands several times over the next two decades but by the 1840s much of it had come into the hands of one of the company, Joseph Jones. In the 1840 tithe applotment books he is shown as the occupier of Melin Adda and the surrounding land, the freehold of which was owned by Richard Jones. Joseph had previously been a mine agent at Parys Mountain and after his stint at Melin Adda again became a mine agent in Snowdonia. He was also later well known as a literary figure and antiquary who was involved in local eisteddfodau.
By 1841 the census shows the mill being run by the mill agent Owen Lewis and miller Owen Owens, with three other millers living in the houses surrounding the mill. Leases and trade directories show Lewis & Owens running the mill into the 1850s. In 1851 one of the millers, Owen Hughes, met an unfortunate end when he was hit on the head by the windmill's sails.
In the 1860s the mill was run by a younger Owen Owens, possibly the son of the previous owner. He was assisted by at least three local millers, plus a mill's clerk, David Prichard. However, in 1863 his wife Elizabeth died at the early age of 49. Shortly after he ran into financial problems, the mill was auctioned off and he was declared bankrupt.
The mill was again auctioned in 1867 and was then run by John Williams through to the early 1870s. Subsequently it was owned by William Jones, who had previously run Melin y Borth near Amlwch port. He died in 1884, aged 57, and the mill was taken over by his son Owen, who died tragically young, aged 35, in 1889.
Following Owen's death the mill was run by John Jones until its closure in 1912. During his tenure it seems to have been a busy mill, as there were always five or six assistant millers living nearby. But he was in his 70s at the time and may have retired or died. By 1929 was just an empty shell, according to An Inventory of the Ancient Monuments in Anglesey.
In 2019 it was placed on the market, and newspaper articles here and here about it shows photos of the interior.
See other images of this windmill at:
- Wikipedia
- Windmill World
- Anglesey.Info
- Image taken in 1936, from the Donald W. Muggeridge Collection of Mill Photographs, University of Kent, Canterbury
- People's Collection Wales, a modern aerial photo
More information at:
Melin y Borth, Amlwch, or go to gallery.
Aerial image
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