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White Mill; Felin Wen

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NPRN24851
Map ReferenceSN42SE
Grid ReferenceSN4625121438
Unitary (Local) AuthorityCarmarthenshire
Old CountyCarmarthenshire
CommunityAbergwili
Type Of SiteCORN MILL
PeriodPost Medieval
Description
1. 18th/19th century. 2 hoist openings. Iron overshot wheel (renewed 1895). Complete set of machinery still in use (1997).

2. White Mill (Felin Wen) is a three-storey building constructed of rubblestone now covered in cement render, under a hipped slated roof; attached is a further three-storey building, the lower floor of which has housed cattle and the upper storeys have been at some time a dwelling. The stone floor is at the level of the adjacent road, and is entered from it by a stable doorway. The top floor timbers have been reinforced by tram rails, said to have come from the Swansea and Mumbles Railway; one bears the date 1907.

The all-iron waterwheel is located at the west end of the building, and was fed by a 560 metre-long leat, passing under the road to a wooden launder. The large pit wheel is a spur gear, driving directly onto a horizontal layshaft which in turn drove three pairs of stones through bevel gears with wooden teeth. This layshaft could also be driven through a flat belt by an engine, originally a Blackstone but later a Lister LD3, installed in a lean-to building at road level. The cast iron stone nuts could be lifted out of mesh by chains, operated by levers inside the hursting. The stones are complete with their tuns and hoppers (in 2012), and the flour passed through wooden chutes into a large flour bin on the ground floor. From there it could be lifted by a bucket elevator to a large dressing machine on the top floor, these driven by a second spur gear from the pit wheel which also powered the sack hoist. On the first floor there is a "Eureka" grain cleaner by S Howes, New Jersey, USA, now driven by electricity.

The water supply and wheel ceased to be used when the river board demanded a large annual payment for an abstraction licence, and the launder collasped soon after. The mill is complete, but has not produced flour for some time.

W J Crompton, RCAHMW, 22 February 2012.