Skoulli

Mill Description

---

The watermill is located on the southern outskirts of the village of Skoulli. The mill’s west side abuts on the Paphos-Polis Chrysochous highway. It is adjacent to orchards with citrus trees and houses. The watertower is square in plan and has three tiers on all of its sides. Its construction is elaborate while the masonry is rusticated, achieved by cutting back the edges of stones to a plane surface while leaving the central portion of the face rough (kyphoto systima). The aqueduct, in the form of a stonebuilt channel, has a similar masonry to the watertower and is interrupted by two arches, the bases of which are preserved in the remaining, intermediate pillars. The watertower’s shaft is vertical, slightly inclined to the west, with a large circular opening with a diameter of about 1m. The auxiliary buildings of the watermill have undergone significant alterations. The west façade of the watertower was incorporated into a room added above the room that housed the grinding mechanism, while the vaulted chamber of the waterwheel has been demolished. At the bottom of the west side of the room of the waterwheel the hole of the nozzle is still visible. Reference to a watermill in the village of Skoulli is found in an Ottoman document, according to which on the 30th of October 1771, Elias Arkounis sold to Yiannis Christofis and the monks Ioannikios and Argyros half of a watermill in the village of Skoulli along with a deserted house, for 27 piastres (Theocharides 1993, 1043; Perdikis 2006, 109). At least half of the mill in Skoulli belonged to the Kykkos Monastery, as shown by a selling agreement for part of the mill in 1885, found in Code 53 of the Kykkos Monastery. Apparently it is the same mill that is mentioned in the document of 1771, and 114 years later it is characterised as old. According to the relevant document, dated on the 10th of October, 1885: "Half of a mill in the village of Skoulli was sold to Constantine Chatziioannou along with the selling agreement for 8 english pounds' (Theocharides 2004, 341). Water for the operation of the mill was collected from the Xeros river. Only the ruins of structures are preserved: a ground floor rectangular room (makrynari) with an arch, and behind it a second higher room with an arch and an oblong window. The masonry of both buildings is elaborate and consists of dressed limestone, especially at the corners.   K. Τ. Kalava

Photos