Site overview

Y Felin Wynt Tower stands on Y Graig hill west of Llantrisant. The stone tower is known locally as Y Felin Wynt, Hen Felin Wynt, or Billy Wynt. It was already shown as an old tower on Bowen's map of South Wales in 1729, and tradition associates a windmill near the town with a thirteenth-century battle.

The tower survived as a tall structure through much of the nineteenth century but had been greatly reduced by 1890. In 1893 Llantrisant Town Trust employed Gomer S Morgan, architect, to restore the ruin as a folly, adding steps and broad coping stones. The remaining circular sandstone tower is about three metres high and was listed at Grade II in 1996 as a late Victorian folly created from an important early windmill tower.

Map

Map markers and directions links are provided for location reference only and do not indicate public access or permission to enter a site.
No site photograph is currently available. Images will be added as field visits are carried out.

History

Y Felin Wynt Tower stands on the hilltop of Y Graig, west of Llantrisant, reached by footpath from Heol-y-Graig. It is one of the town's best-known landmarks and is locally known as Y Felin Wynt, Hen Felin Wynt, or Billy Wynt.

The site has a long historic association with wind power. The tower was already shown as an old tower on Bowen's map of South Wales in 1729. A windmill next to the town was traditionally said to have been destroyed during a thirteenth-century battle, although the surviving structure is best understood through its later recorded fabric and map evidence. The tower remained tall through much of the nineteenth century, but by 1890 it had been substantially reduced.

The surviving structure was deliberately reshaped in the late nineteenth century. In 1893 Llantrisant Town Trust employed Gomer S Morgan, architect, to restore the ruin as a folly. The works included the addition of internal steps and broad coping stones. The present tower is a circular rubble-sandstone structure, approximately three metres high and five metres in diameter, with vertical sides and slightly battered bases constructed on bedrock. A doorway with a segmental head of narrow stone voussoirs opens on the south side. The wall tops carry large flat coping stones linked by iron straps and shaped to the curve of the tower, forming a walkway.

Inside, the rock floor is exposed. A curving flight of stone steps rises to the copings, and a ledge with stone copings sits below the wall head. Beam holes and a semi-circular recess preserve evidence of the earlier tower structure. Y Felin Wynt Tower was listed at Grade II on 1 February 1996 as a late Victorian folly created from the tower of an important early windmill.

Timeline

Folly tower survives

The reduced circular rubble-sandstone tower survives on Y Graig with coping stones, internal steps, and evidence of the earlier tower structure.
1729

Old tower mapped

The tower was already shown as an old tower on Bowen's map of South Wales.
1800–1890

Tall tower survived

The tower survived as a tall structure through much of the nineteenth century.
1890

Tower reduced

By 1890 the old windmill tower had been greatly reduced.
1893

Restored as folly

Llantrisant Town Trust employed Gomer S Morgan, architect, to restore the ruin as a folly, adding steps and wide copings.
1996

Listed building designation

Y Felin Wynt Tower was designated as a Grade II listed building.

Sources and records

Cadw listed building record
Llantrisant local history article
Welsh Mills Society listed windmills gazetteer
British Listed Buildings entry
Archwilio regional HER record