A new year’s day trip around some nearby sites looking for mills with water turbines - photos are phone.
The first one in Cynwyd was a typical failure.
Cynwyd once had a number of textile and other mills, but all looked to have been either converted into houses or gone completely, except for the one shown below.
The long penstock running down the valley at first looked promising, but on closer inspection it was recent.
The building was locked but I could just about see through dirty windows that it was mostly empty except for a modern Pelton, humming away.
There isn’t much information about the next one in Llangwm, except that it was said to have an internal water wheel.
In fact the wheel had gone, some time ago from the look of the wheel pit, being replaced by a double Pelton running a generator.
Tailrace.
The last one of the day was Penmachno woollen mill which used to be a tourist attraction with working machinery powered by an internal Pelton (it’s called factory Isaf on the map below).
What I hadn’t realised until @tigger pointed it out is that there’s another turbine on the outside, easily seen on Google street view in fact, which seems to have been a secondary source of electricity for the mill.
Turbine hut from the bridge next door, with the weir and sluice gate beyond directing water into the penstock.
The turbine is a propellor-in-a-tube type from MacKellar, who may be still in business - it seems likely that this was a replacement for an older system.
While access is rather obvious, you wouldn’t want to slip…
The first one in Cynwyd was a typical failure.
Cynwyd once had a number of textile and other mills, but all looked to have been either converted into houses or gone completely, except for the one shown below.
The long penstock running down the valley at first looked promising, but on closer inspection it was recent.
The building was locked but I could just about see through dirty windows that it was mostly empty except for a modern Pelton, humming away.
There isn’t much information about the next one in Llangwm, except that it was said to have an internal water wheel.
In fact the wheel had gone, some time ago from the look of the wheel pit, being replaced by a double Pelton running a generator.
Tailrace.
The last one of the day was Penmachno woollen mill which used to be a tourist attraction with working machinery powered by an internal Pelton (it’s called factory Isaf on the map below).
What I hadn’t realised until @tigger pointed it out is that there’s another turbine on the outside, easily seen on Google street view in fact, which seems to have been a secondary source of electricity for the mill.
Turbine hut from the bridge next door, with the weir and sluice gate beyond directing water into the penstock.
The turbine is a propellor-in-a-tube type from MacKellar, who may be still in business - it seems likely that this was a replacement for an older system.
While access is rather obvious, you wouldn’t want to slip…
