Onin-Ebryd is a lovely little abandoned farm and mill (at Ordnance Survey grid reference SH 7541 6861) set on the route of a footpath and disused track leading from the road through Llanbedr y Cennin in the Conwy Valley. To all appearances, the track exists almost exclusively to access the mill, since it rather peters out after this little settlement. The road from Llanbedr, at SH 7572 6968, is probably the easiest way to reach the mill. As it was more convenient for us and also avoided walking right past inhabited properties during coronavirus, we parked at the foot of Pen y Gaer and took the footpath from the abandoned farmhouse of Tan y Gaer, at SH 7495 6959.
It's probably been twenty years or more since I last visited this little ruined mill, even though it's not that far from my house. Then, the mill building still had a roof and the waterwheel was still visible in the wheel pit. This visit made me rather sad, partly because of the wailing ten year old we had in tow, but mostly because the deterioration had gone so far. All roofing was gone and the wheel wasn't visible at all. In fact, I spent some time wandering about wondering if I had the right place. Eventually I discovered the remains of a wheel inside the mill, and, from that, was finally able to recognise the wheel pit outside.
There's very little to find out about this mill online, beyond a few references to
documents and
photos relating to the Roberts family, who lived there during the turn of the nineteenth to twentieth century. It seems that a visit to the archives could be rewarding for anyone who wants to find out more. Speaking to a neighbour about it, he referred to it as a 'chaffing mill,' which I assume is another name for a threshing mill.
The track running to the mill. Presumably, in the past, most of our lanes were like this, just with more visible stones and mud.
A venerable old larch tree guards the entrance to the farmyard.
The stile beside the rusty gate, upon a plinth of stones.
A view of the farmyard, with the farmhouse and barns to the right of the track, and mill and barns to the left.
A small barn, this one with stone steps up the outside, only just visible here on the right, to a loft above. A common feature of barns around here.
One of the barn buildings shows signs of being relatively recently roofed.
Looking over at the front garden and gateposts of the cottage.
A roof ridge tile, manufactured in Hawarden, some 35 miles away in North East Wales.
Roof ridge tile lying on scattered stones.
An old washtub being destroyed by rust.
The old front door and gateposts with the garden between. The garden is overrun with
soapwort, a spreading plant that can be used in place of soap and is still used for washing delicate fabrics. Our own garden is full of this. It's a sign of a long inhabited cottage.
In June, 1950, Onen-Ebryd was already beginning to go into ruin, but then it was still an impressive two storey building.
See an image from then on the Coflein site, which shows the main house roofed, with first floor windows still partly intact under gables.
One of the beams in the old cottage. The survival of these beams for so long indicates these buildings were roofed for longer than a lot of the abandoned cottages around here.
This big beam is almost the only surviving remnant of the fireplace, and is very like the beam in our own 350 year old cottage.
Luckily the front door lintel is made of slate, as well as having this rotten wooden lintel.
Joist holes for first floor beams.
A crabapple tree grows wild behind the barns, another sign of old habitation.
The door into the mill itself, with a well preserved wooden lintel.
The stone step up into the mill shows a very evocative patch of wear from the many feet that must have gone in and out every day.
Inside the mill, the A frame holding the roof has fallen, turning 180° in the process.
The joists are held together by wooden pegs, but also by this hefty bit of ironwork.
Inside the mill building I found the first sign I was in the right place - a wheel on the inside of the wall that would have been attached to the water wheel outside. It almost looks as if the wheel is holding up the wall! I lack the technical knowledge of mills to know the correct term for this wheel.
The shaft from this small wheel appears to enter the wall here.
I'm not sure if the horizontal metal band is part of the arrangement, or later debris. Similarly, are the slates near the floor original? It looks as if a little maintenance has been done to stop the wall collapsing.
The wheel pit outside the mill barely resembles a pit at all. There was a metal wheel here. I don't know if any remains under the brambles. The curious thing about this wheel is there's no sign of a watercourse anywhere nearby. The course of streams has been brutally altered by the building of a leat which runs across the hillside a few hundred yards above the mill, but there's still no sign in the land of there ever being a stream. The local consensus is that the water was brought in by a wooden aquaduct.
A small, high up window in the end gable of the mill building.
The land just above the mill. A small single room ruin can be seen near a stunted tree. The leat is just out of sight further up the slope.
The leat where it runs under the small mountain of Pen y Gaer, emerging on the other side near Bron y Gadair.
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