History of the Site - From Corn Mill to Holiday Cottages

Post House Garden Holiday Cottages stand on the site of a former water mill, the exact construction date is unknown but mills like this were common during the period leading up to the industrial revolution.

Water powered corn mills would have been the hub of farming communities and wealthy mill owners were often benefactors of local developments.  The buildings near the Cwmbach mill (school house, Methodist chapel and village inn) are clustered at a point where tracks converged from the surrounding farms.

The green line drawn on this map from 1860, indicates what is now the Post House Garden.  Towards the northern end of the garden is a small pond which was fed from a weir on the river, this and a small quarry just below the pond suggest that an early mill may once have stood at this location.  The pond was enlarged in the 1980s to form an ornamental feature that still exists today.

Moving south the map shows a mill race alongside the river, indicating a second (or later) mill would have been built downstream.  The mill race has now been filled in to form a riverside path.

Towards the southern end of the garden the map shows a second mill pond, it no longer exists but is now a lawn ...one of the few flat areas within the garden.  Remnants of the mill building can still be seen today.

A photo from the 1920s shows the mill building with steps leading up to a raised working area inside.

This artist's impression shows what the internal workings of the Cwmbach Mill may have looked like.

Today, the remains of the mill building have been turned into an open seating area.  A few features can still be seen in the slate walls, along with part of a cast iron wheel that once would have held wooden gear pins.

The pit that housed the water wheel has long since been filled in but the course of the mill race (that channelled water from the millpond to the water wheel) can just about be made out in the contours of the rock face.  Old mill stones have now become ornamental features that gather moss at the entrance to the garden, they serve to provide visitors with a link to the past.

Next to the mill was a village store, the picture below (from the late 1920s) shows the shop on the left with a warehouse next to it and a truck parked in front.  The truck was used to deliver produce (butter, eggs and rabbits) on a weekly basis to Cardiff and the South Wales Valleys.  The  mill owner's son tells us that his father and a mate would sometimes set out at 3:00 am and not return home until midnight, particularly in bad weather or later on during the war years when lighting on the truck had to be dimmed!

Today the shop has been turned into a games room for holiday cottage guests to enjoy and the warehouse has become Red Kite Cottage.  The building at the back of the image is no longer standing, but its outline can be seen on the ground.  The building to the right (only a corner can be seen) is now Kingfisher Cottage.

Behind the shop was a small dairy where unsalted butter from local farms was processed, packed and sold as Welsh, Salted “Shirgar” butter.  The Shirgar brand was sold to Cow & Gate in the late 1950s and can still be found on supermarket shelves today.

Mains electricity came to the village in 1962 and this aerial image was taken shortly after, an electricity pole and cables can be seen in it.  The mill can also be seen, still standing behind the main house, with two smaller buildings to the left of it.  These were demolished in the 1980s to make way for a modern double garage and workshop.

To the front of the Post House is a telephone box which served the local community and passers-by until the 1980s.

Fuel was sold from the village store, next to the phone box is an enclosure (likely for the sale of paraffin) and two petrol pumps.

The greenhouse to the foreground was constructed on an old footbridge that crossed the river, neither greenhouse or bridge remain today.  The road bridge was constructed in the 1940s, prior to that traffic would have crossed through a ford.

The image below is from the 1980s, the edge of the telephone box can be seen on the right.  It shows the shop as it would have appeared up until it closed in the early 1990s, above the shop door is a post office sign.

The brick building to the right has served various purposes over the years, including: postal sorting office, motor repair workshop, tea room and gymnasium.  It is now Kingfisher holiday cottage.

Around the time the above photo was taken, the Post House Garden was opened up to the public via the National Garden scheme - attracting visitors from far and wide. 

Finally an image of the Post House, with Red Kite and Kingfisher Holiday Cottages as they appear today...