Melin Adda Pentrefelin · Isle of Anglesey · Wales

Melin Adda stands at Pentrefelin on the outskirts of Amlwch, set back from the north side of Ffordd Tanybryn. It is a late eighteenth-century tower windmill and formed part of a substantial milling complex with two watermills and other associated buildings. The complex served the growing population of Amlwch during the industrial expansion connected with the nearby Parys Mountain copper mines.

The site had an earlier water-powered milling history. A watermill had stood in the area since at least 1352, when it was mentioned in the Extent of Anglesey. Deeds from 1763 mention the watermill, then sold by Henry Williams to Robert Jones while Hugh Roberts was running the mill. By 1789, when Robert Jones leased the property to Thomas Williams, a windmill had been added beside the watermill.

After Thomas Williams died, the lease was sold in 1812 to a group of merchants and gentlemen who later became known as the Melin Adda Company. By the 1840s much of the interest had passed to Joseph Jones. The 1840 tithe applotment books showed Joseph Jones as occupier of Melin Adda and the surrounding land, with the freehold owned by Richard Jones. The 1841 census recorded a busy milling settlement, with a mill agent, several millers, and a baker living at the complex. Cadw records three millers at that time: David Roberts, Robert Williams, and William Jones, together with baker Mary Thomas and mill agent Owen Lewis.

Slater's Directory of 1850 listed the owners of Melin Adda Mills, the windmill and one watermill, as Lewis & Owens. Owen Hughes was miller at that time and died in 1851 after being struck by one of Melin Adda's sails. He was succeeded by Hugh Hughes, who milled until his death in 1865, followed by John Williams. In the 1860s the mill was run by a younger Owen Owens, assisted by local millers and a mill clerk, but financial difficulties led to auction and bankruptcy. The mill was auctioned again in 1867 and subsequently passed through John Williams and William Jones. After William Jones died in 1884, his son Owen took over, dying in 1889. John Jones then ran the mill until its closure in 1912.

By 1929 Melin Adda was an empty shell. The tower survives as a tapering circular three-storey structure of rendered rubble masonry, with a shallow octagonal slate roof and modern doors and windows in the original openings. It was listed at Grade II in 1951 as a complete late eighteenth-century windmill tower and as part of a complete milling complex. The tower was converted into a dwelling in the mid-1970s and has since been renovated, with a new roof, balcony, and crossed timbers added to suggest the former sails.