Grade II* listed tower windmill at Kingsland retaining exceptional original machinery.
Kingsland Windmill, also known as Melin yr Ogof or St George's Mill, is a conical tower windmill at Kingsland, approximately one kilometre south of Holyhead town centre. It was built about 1820–30 by the local builder Hugh Hughes and worked as a corn mill. The mill retained its machinery after closure, making it one of the most important unrestored windmill survivals in Wales.
Its cap and sails were removed during the Second World War because of concern that they were too conspicuous. The four-storey stone tower has whitewashed render, regular square-headed openings, opposing first-floor stage doorways, and a ground-floor entrance to the north. It was listed at Grade II* in 1952 for the exceptional survival of an almost complete set of original nineteenth-century windmill machinery.
Kingsland Windmill stands within a modern housing estate at Kingsland, west of the B4545 and about one kilometre south of Holyhead town centre. It is also known as Melin yr Ogof or St George's Mill, and local sources identify it with Mill Road, Kingsland.
The mill was built about 1820–30 by Hugh Hughes, a local builder and farmer of Ty Mawr Mynydd near South Stack. Anglesey local history places the construction more closely around 1825, on land belonging to the Stanley Estate. Hugh Hughes retained ownership until his death in 1869, when the mill and much of his other land passed to his daughters Mary and Margaret.
The mill was occupied and worked by a series of nineteenth-century millers. In the 1840s tithe apportionment the occupier of the mill and the surrounding Ogof farm was Henry Williams. By 1851 the farm had passed to Henry's children Hugh, Owen, and Elizabeth. In 1861 Hugh remained on the farm, while the mill itself was being run by John Williams, assisted by Thomas Grey and his son Hugh. By 1881 the mill was occupied by Owen Owens, assisted by John Williams. After Owen died in 1884, his wife Mary continued the business, helped first by Hugh Grey and later by her son William.
Melin yr Ogof continued to work into the early twentieth century, despite competition from a nearby steam-powered mill. It ceased working around 1920 after a crack was found in part of the structure supporting the windshaft and repairs proved too costly. In 1939 a storm shifted the remains of the cap and sail into a dangerous position. The cap and sails were removed during the Second World War because of concern that they were too conspicuous, and the top of the tower was concreted over, helping to protect the machinery below.
The tower is a four-storey conical stone-built windmill with whitewashed render. It has square-headed openings with small-pane windows arranged in regular tiers on the west and east sides. Opposing first-floor doorways originally opened onto the staging, which has gone, although wooden joists remain. A boarded ground-floor entrance survives on the north side, and remains of a perimeter wall built to keep cattle away also survive.
The principal importance of Kingsland Windmill lies inside the tower. It retains an exceptional amount of original machinery, much of it close to working order. The upper bin floor retains hoppers, a sack hoist, an iron crown wheel, and possibly the original chain wheel for driving the cap. The stone floor retains two complete local-stone millstones with associated machinery, while the third stone survives with partly broken machinery. Rare in situ dressers survive on the first floor, together with gearing, stone governors, and secondary drives. Kingsland Windmill was designated Grade II* on 1 August 1952 for this exceptional survival of original nineteenth-century windmill machinery.