CPAT Regional Sites & Monuments Record

PRN 26690 - Gellidywyll Mill
Listed Building 18119 (II )

NGR :- SN8850599842 (SN89NE)
Unitary authority :- Powys
Community :- Llanbrynmair
Prefered site type :- Post Medieval - Corn mill (Building - Damaged )

Former corn mill with overshot wheel and two pairs of stones. Now converted into a house (Houghton-Browne, A 1977).

Shown as Felin Dolgadfan on OS 1in 1836, but also known at various times as Pandy Dolgadfan, Pandy Isaf or Pendeintir, it may be that this mill served both as a pandy and as a corn mill. It is recorded in a letter from Evan Roberts in Llanbryn-mair to his son George in Ebensburg, Pennsylvania, on 3 October 1812. There are a number of names and dates inscribed on walls and doors as follows. Top floor wall: J.Hughes, Bont, 1882; J.Hughes, 1889; D. Morgan, 1882; David Morgan 1882; Tegwyn Jones 1915; there are also diagrams of the grooving patterns of millstones. Back door: DCH and AWW 1892; D.C.Howell, A.W.Wakefield, August 1889; Richard Lewis 1906. Front Door: Idrys Howell. These inscriptions are certainly genuine as we have independent confirmation that the Howell family were in occupancy from 1744 (Richard Howell) to at least 1889 (Daniel Howell), when the owner was Miss Loscombe (R. Williams, Montgomeryshire Collections 19 (1886), 108). There was a separate shed for the drying kiln, situated above the mill by the main road. There was also a Pelton-wheel in another shed below the mill for generating electricity. The premises had also been used as a saw mill in this century.

A house called Melin Penybont in Pont Dolgadfan (Bont) was never a mill but was converted from an old barn according to a number of local informants. However, the old Pont Dolgadfan farmhouse next to the bridge did have a farmwheel for churning butter and other uses (Barton P G, 1999, 53-54).

The following is from Cadw's Listed Buildings database

The mill and mill house are located below the road from Llanbrynmair to Staylittle, approximately 350m S of the juntion with the Bont-dolgadfan and Talerddig Road. Set over a small stream where it joins the Afon Twymyn.

Bont Pandy began as a pandy mill, and with the decline of the flannel industry in this locality, was converted to a corn mill. The earliest surviving building is c.1800, with the mill house, of c.1900, set across the S end. The mill and house are linked up and the mill was further extended N over the waterwheel to provide bunkhouse accommodation for workers. At one time, it was operated by the Howell family, with other members, Alfred and Elizabeth Howell, operating Pandy'r Pennant in the next hamlet. Over the stream, near its junction with the river, is the former generator house, built of brick c. 1922, with a Pelton wheel under the battery storage floor. This generated power for Plƒs Llwyn Owen, which lies on the W side of the road and was the first house in the neighbourhood to be illuminated by electricity.

The mill is built of rubble stone with slate roofs, of 3 storeys, and a linking block between the mill and the house being of 3 storeys, timber framed, 5 panels high, with brick-on-edge infilling. Boarded doors on the ground floor on the river side, and to first floor at the rear. Paned timber windows. Gable stack to the house, and an added stack to the workers lodging. The house, also of limewashed rubble stone and slate, has segmental headed windows, a gable stack at the upper end, and a lean-to towards the river.

The wide pit for the overshot iron waterwheel, removed c.1980, has a stone lintelled opening to the base of the mill. A 200mm approximate diameter drive shaft is supported in cast iron bearing boxes, and engages at the base of the vertical shaft which is supported on a heavy bridge tree. Iron bevel gear lies directly below a timber great spur wheel with wood teeth, which engages two wooden 14-tooth stone nuts on either side. One quant shaft survives, driving a pair of French burrs by Kay & Hilton, Liverpool, 1855. The second drive (missing) operated a pair of Peak stones, heavily worn, and perhaps a factor for its ceasing work. Above, a crown wheel, also entirely of wood with diagonally set teeth, engages a lay shaft set lengthwise in the mill, with a wood belt pulley, and another shaft with pulley, presumably for a dresser, now gone. A lever operates a form of tentering gear. The top floor has a horizontal drum shaft and pulley. A sack hoist trap survives in the adjoining bay beyond a boarded partition.

Pandai are the only surviving physical remains of the major post medieval industry of this important cloth producing community. Bont Pandy is included as the only surviving one of the numerous such buildings in the locality converted to corn milling to retain its machinery and original form.

Williams R, 'Montgomeryshire Worthies' Montgomeryshire Collections, XXV, 1891, p 215 for David Howell (1816-1850), a relative of the operator; Llanbrynmair Tithe Map, 1841; Ordnance Survey Map, 1886 (1st Ed), scale 1:2500. Mont XXVII, 9.

Sources:-
Barton, P G , 1997 , ,
Barton, P G , 1999 , "A history and conspectus of Montgomeryshire water corn mills ", The Montgomeryshire Collections 87 , 53-54 .
Barton, P G , 2003 , "The timber and sawmilling trade in Montgomeryshire ", The Montgomeryshire Collections 91 , 40 .
Cadw Listing database , 2000 , ,
Houghton-Browne, A list , 1977 , ,
Jones, D H , 1968 , Watermills in Montgomeryshire ,

record created 31/12/96 CE96 - copyright CPAT , last updated 03/06/04
The above data are supplied by CPAT in partnership with its Local Authorities and the partners of END, © CPAT SMR partnership, 2004 (and in part © Crown, 2004 - as indicated)



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Clwyd Powys Archaeological Trust, Curatorial Section, 7a Church Street, Welshpool, Powys SY21 7DL.
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