A 200-year-old abandoned windmill is being offered to locals after struggling to attract takers for its £7,500-a-year commercial lease.
Melin y Graig, a Grade-II listed former corn mill overlooking Llangefni, on Anglesey, has been on the rental market for more than four years.
Built over three floors around 1829, it closed in 1893 and in the 1990s it was adapted for use as a telecommunications tower, gaining its idiosyncratic cap, North Wales Live reports.
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Lucas Estate Agents, which is marketing a five-year lease on behalf of Anglesey Council, says it remains suitable for this purpose.
However the council is now offering to transfer the property to local groups to develop as a community facility.
Groups and organisation are being invited to submit “imaginative proposals” by November 30.
The council said: “If your group or organisation is interested in taking over or developing this facility, you will need to show that your proposals can secure its longer-term future and will benefit the local community.”
The former windmill is one of Llangefni’s most famous landmarks, featuring on the badges of the town’s football club and primary school.
As with most of the island’s mills, its sails and machinery were removed and by the 1930s only an empty shell was left.
At almost 40ft high, the tower offers commanding views across central Anglesey.
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Built from stone, with an internal diameter of around 19ft, it was gutted internally to make way for galvanised steel ladders and walkway.
Its roof was also removed to accommodate an elevated platform.
Of the island’s 32 windmills, around half have been converted into homes. Only one, Melin Llynon, has been fully restored to working order, and is the only surviving working windmill in Wales.
The anglesey-history.co.uk website lists Melin y Graig’s last miller as William Jones.
As he was also the last miller at two other Anglesey mills, he earned himself the nickname Angau Melinau – Angau being the personification of death in early Welsh legends, and melinau meaning “mills”.
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