Gwynedd Archaeological
Trust Regional Historic Environment Record
Tidal Mill, Ty'n y Felin
Primary Reference Number (PRN) : 7159 Trust : Gwynedd Community : Rhoscolyn Unitary authority : Ynys Mon NGR : SH28817676 Site Type (preferred type first) : MEDIEVAL TIDE MILL Status : Scheduled Monument
Description : The remains of a tidal mill located on natural outcropping with an associated dam and sluice. The mill structure includes a water wheel pit and a probable adjacent wheel pit. It is c.11m by 7m with some external walling surviving. Internally there is sub-circular feature of set larger stones, possibly the footings for the internal mechanism. <1>
The scheduled area includes the stone dam holding back a tidal creek, a sluice channel and at the se end a rock cut channel which would have contained the mill wheel and the mill platform itself. <2>
History
This mill is situated on land forming part of Bodior Estate. The house at Bodior has 16th century origins, and the estate may be a century older. Unfortunately there is no full manuscript collection covering the estate, and the only reference to the mill is in a Deed dated 1778 relating to Bodior and "all that water corn grist mill called Bodior milf'. No other mill is known in the vicinity of Bodior, and the lack of suitable streams suggests the tide mill is probably the mill referred in the Deed. The mill is clearly marked on John Evans map of 1795, although it is not shown on the tithe map of 1840. Its method of depiction on the 25" OS map of 1900 suggests it was no longer in use by that date. The house associated with the mill, called Ty'n y Felin, and now used as a school holiday centre, lies south of the mill.
Archaeology (Figs 6-7 and plates 11-14)
Bodior mill (fig's 6 and 7) lies on the opposite side of the strait to Felin Wen, but closely resembles that mill in layout. It consists of a long dam which cuts across a tidal inlet, at one end ofwhich is a rectangular mill building situated on a rocky outcrop. As at Felin Wen, the wheel race and sluice gates are adjacent to one another, on the one side of the mill. The construction of the dam, however, appears quite different from that of its neighbour. In place of the strong stone wall with vertical faces on each side, is a wide stone bank c. 4 m wide and 1 m high, sloping steeply on the pond side but at a shallow angle on the seaward side. On top of the bank on the pond side is a stone wall, which appears later in date than the bank, which measures approximately 1m high and 0.25 m wide. On the site of the sluice is a modem sluice gate, and the original opening has been blocked to the width of the modem gate. The original width is shown by parallel facing stones across the dam which are 2.3 m apart. The mill race alongside is now blocked, but it was some 1.2 m wide. The original depth of the race is not possible to obtain. The mill building is a rectangular structure 8.7 m long by 4.8 m wide internally, with walls 1.4 m wide. The clearest wall is the NE one. The SW wall was built over a rock outcrop, but whereas one small portion remains, most of it has gone. The SE gable (opposite the race) is only visible as a single line of facing stones, through which a door may be visible. It seems likely that the wall facing the race was largely open, as the primary facing visible is that which would have formed the wheel race, although another slight line is visible parallel to the race facing but 1.4 m in from it, which may be the inner face of the wall, on which may have rested the inner bearing of the main wheel axle. The floor of the mill slopes to the NW, towards the wheel race. There is little evidence for layout, and no timber visible as at Fe! in Wen. However, there an area of stone spread, consisting of fairly small (10 mm) stone on the floor of the mill. The function of this is unknown. (Davidson, 1998).
