Converted early nineteenth-century tower windmill surviving as a Grade II listed Trearddur dwelling.
Melin y Gof, also known as Stanley Windmill or Stanley Mill, is a former tower windmill near Trearddur Bay. It stands in an elevated position north of the B4545 Lon St. Ffraid and looks out over the Inland Sea. The mill was built on land owned by the Stanley family of Penrhos.
Construction is thought to have begun in 1826, with the mill completed the following year; a former millstone bearing 1828 probably marked the start of milling. Melin y Gof was the last windmill in Wales to be worked by wind and ceased production in November 1938 after a storm removed the cap and sails. Restoration fundraising was interrupted by the Second World War, and the tower continued to deteriorate.
In the early 1960s it was converted to a house and raised by one storey to form a viewing studio.
Melin y Gof stands in an elevated position near Trearddur Bay, reached by a single-track lane north of the B4545 Lon St. Ffraid. It is also known as Stanley Windmill or Stanley Mill, a name connected with the Stanley family of Penrhos, who owned the land on which it was built.
The mill was built in the early nineteenth century. Construction is thought to have begun in 1826, the date scratched into the stonework, and to have been completed the following year. A millstone formerly bearing the date 1828 probably marked the beginning of milling. The earliest known miller was Morris Edwards, recorded in the 1840s tithe apportionment as occupier of the windmill and the surrounding farmland at Ynys y Gof. In the 1841 census the mill was being run by Thomas Morris, while Robert Morris farmed Ynys y Gof. Robert Morris remained there until his death in 1881, after which his widow Jane continued the farm and Owen Owens took over the mill.
The mill later passed through further working millers. Hugh Jones took it over in the late 1890s and ran it until his death in 1933. Hughie Jones and Alfred Edward Jones then continued the business. Contemporary photographic records from the 1930s show the mill with sails and in working condition. The mill ceased production in November 1938 after a storm removed the cap and sails, making it the last wind-powered mill in Wales.
A repair and restoration scheme began soon afterwards, led by the windmill section of the Ancient Monument Society, but fundraising was overtaken by the Second World War and the mill continued to deteriorate. In the early 1960s planning permission was granted to convert the tower into a house. The height was raised by one storey to create a viewing studio with large windows around the circumference, and the former mill became a dwelling. It was listed at Grade II in 1952 as a good example of an early nineteenth-century windmill tower retaining its original planned form, openings, and character despite later alteration.