Medieval origin, from the end of the 13th century-beginning of the 14th

According to Guinot and Selma (2005), Selma 2014 and Mangue (2000), the origin of the San Miguel, Albors or Montanyana mill, which has had the three names, is from the end of the 13^th or beginning of the 14^th century, but in view of the changes in ownership it is not easy to identify in the years in which it corresponds. For now, the oldest reference to it as a Montanyana mill is the 1510 census of the population of the Kingdom of València, published by R. Valldecabres, and with the same name appears in the list of millers who were members of the Confraria de la Pluja de València (Brotherhood of the Rain of València) in 1672. This would be the surname of the owner family in the 14^th and 15^th centuries. Nevertheless, everything seems to indicate that, at some point in the 16th century, it would be bought by the monastery of Sant Miquel dels Reis, a religious institution that maintained its property until the Disentailment of religious goods by the Spanish State in the 1840s. During those centuries, the mill was periodically leased to professional millers, and at other times it may have been ceded in emphyteusis to others in exchange for the payment of an annual tax. This is also why it is sometimes difficult to identify it in historical documents as the name of the monastery or the name of the miller could be used, depending on the context.

For example, in 1787 the mill was leased by the monastery to a miller for a fee of 130 lliures (pounds) per year. Starting in the middle of the 19^th century, it passed into the hands of professional millers, and its activity lasted until the second half of the 20^th century. The country house is located on the Sant Miquel braç (arm) of the Rascanya irrigation canal, quite late in its layout, and at least in the 18^th and 19^th centuries it was a flour and rice mill, although the cultivation of rice used to be common in part of the mills in l’Horta (the irrigated lands of València) since the late Middle Ages. Furthermore, at least since the 16^th century, the mill was not isolated as a building but was part of a group of houses with agricultural and storage facilities that belonged to the monastery. It was therefore an important alqueria (farmhouse) as well as a mill. This group of houses has received the name of “alqueria d’Albors” in the contemporary period.

The mill is currently located in a totally urban area surrounded by buildings and the avenue known as the “Ronda Nord”, which means that it is outside the traditional context of l’Horta. In fact, as the irrigation canal is not visible either, at first sight it looks like another alqueria (farmhouse). According to Guinot and Selma (2005) and Selma (2014), there are few tangibles remains of the medieval mill and the building we can see today is a 17^th century construction. These authors, who describe the mill before it was restored, explain that the floor plan of the mill is rectangular, with two corridors divided by pillars that support a main beam on which the roof beams rest, and that it has three floors and an asymmetrical gabled roof made of Arab tiles. The door has a semi-circular arch and is made of wood with two leaves. The structure of the building is of rough masonry at the base of the building while the rest of the tiles are painted and polished. The restoration has not altered these basic aspects on the outside, although inside some spaces have been transformed to facilitate public use. For example, a lift has been installed in the exterior courtyard facing Avinguda Germans Machado, which is very visible from that avenue. Likewise, the whole hydraulic part of the mill and the cacaus (stone arches) have been restored, as well as the grinding room and the machinery. Prior to this restoration, an archaeological study of the mill house was carried out by Víctor Algarra and Paloma Berrocal (2016) in 2006 and 2007.

Com a element decoratiu, trobem els arcs de rajola i la porta d’accés. 

• Plan de Acción Territorial de Protección de la Huerta de Valencia. Versión Preliminar. Memoria de Ordenación. Anexo. Fichas de Elementos de Arquitectura Hidráulica. Índice de Fichas, (dir. Arancha Muñoz), Generalitat Valenciana, 2008, Element EPH_07.01, p. 152.
• Revisió simplificada del Pla General de Valencia (2013): Catàleg de Béns i Espais Protegits de natura rural. Element EPA_SU_15.01, pag 519-526
• Pla d’Acció Territorial d’Ordenació i Dinamització de l’Horta de València (PAT de l’Horta). Generalitat Valenciana, 2018. Catàleg annex. Element Patrimonial EPA_07.03: Conjunt: Alqueria de Sant Llorenç i Molí de Sant Miquel, pp. 349 -351.
• El patrimonio hidráulico del Bajo Turia. L’Horta de València. (Coord. J. Hermosilla), València, Direcció General de Patrimoni Cultural-Generalitat Valenciana, 2007, fitxa n. 155, p. 459.
• Los arqueólogos recuperan los restos del molino medieval de Sant Miquel

GUINOT, E., SELMA, S. (2005): Les sèquies de l’Horta Nord de València: Mestalla, Rascanya i Tormos, València, Conselleria d’Agricultura, Col. Camins d’Aigua n. 6, pp. 200 -201.
SELMA CASTELL, Sergi (2014). Paisatges històrics, patrimoni i didàctica. (Les séquies i les hortes del Tribunal de les Aigües de València). Tesi doctoral publicada en PDF. Castelló, Universitat Jaume I de Castelló, pp. 359-361.
ALGARRA, V., BERROCAL, P. (2016), Trabajos de arqueología de la arquitectura. 1992-2016, València, Gabinete de Arqueología Algarra y Berrocal, p. 31.
MANGUE ALFÉREZ, Ignasi (2000): “Séquies i molins a l'horta de València: La séquia de Rascanya, hidraulisme al marge esquerre del Túria”, dins Glick, Th., Guinot, E., Martínez, L.P. (edits.), Els molins hidràulics valencians: tecnologia, història i context social, València, Institució Alfons el Magnànim, pp. 405-449.
ROSSELLÓ VERGER, V.M (1989): “El molins d’aigua de l’Horta de València,”, dins Los paisajes del Agua), València, Universitat d’Alacant-Universitat de València, pp. 317-346.
GUINOT, E.; SELMA, S., LLORIA, R. (2003). El patrimoni hidràulic de les séquies del Tribunal de les Aigües de València. Informe elaborat per a la Direcció General de Patrimoni de la Generalitat Valenciana, Conselleria de Cultura, València.
HERMOSILLA, J. (Coord.). El patrimonio hidráulico del Bajo Turia. L’Horta de València. València, Direcció General de Patrimoni Cultural-Generalitat Valenciana, 2007.

Photos: Càtedra L'Horta de València - Google Earth