The form of the bridge in this very faded watercolour initially suggested that it might depict a Lake District scene, perhaps worked up from a sketch by Girtin’s patron Sir George Howland Beaumont, 7th Baronet (1753–1827), or perhaps a Yorkshire subject as suggested by Thomas Girtin (1874–1960) and David Loshak (Girtin and Loshak, 1954, p.189). However, new research has identified the view as showing a mill near Dolgellau in North Wales, close to the Cain Falls shown in TG1319. The identification was made following the discovery of a print after a view by Mary Smirke (1779–1853) that was published in 1799 as 'A MILL NEAR DOLGELLIE’ (see figure 1). The same mill also appears in reverse in a soft-ground etching by George Cumberland (1754–1848) titled 'A Mill near Dolgelly' (see figure 2) and there can be no doubt that Girtin’s watercolour is a significant addition to the group of Welsh subjects that resulted from his tour to North Wales in the summer of 1798. Girtin’s travelling companion, ‘a young man from Norwich of the name of Moss’, shared the cost of the journey, but crucially paid himself for the ‘Carriage Horses’ that would have made out-of-the way locations such as the Cain Falls and the mill near Dolgellau accessible to an artist who generally tended not to depart from the main coach routes (Farington, Diary, 12 November 1798). As Jeremy Yates has generously pointed out, the mill subject has the added interest of differing from the picturesque lowland watermills depicted in works such as An Overshot Mill (TG1428). The presence of a tall chimney stack with smoke emerging from it suggests that the building was used ‘for processing ore by crushing (water-powered trip hammer) and heating to melt the ore’ (email dated 28 January 2025). In other words, it is something like the building shown in the well-known aquatint by Paul Sandby (c.1730–1809) titled 'The Iron Forge between Dolgelli and Barmouth in Merioneth Shire’ (see figure 3). That is likely to have been situated west of the town, perhaps along the river Wnion, whilst the hillier setting here suggests a more northerly location for Girtin’s drawing, perhaps along the river Mawddach. Frustratingly, attempts to identify the mill and its precise function have not so far been successful. The area saw the mining of copper, iron, gold and lead at various times, all of which used water to power the small-scale processing mills that sprang up. Having exhausted their source of ore, the mills left few traces behind.
The condition of this watercolour, even by the standards of so many of the artist’s later works, is very poor, having faded and discoloured to a distressing degree. The sky, which presumably mixed a range of grey clouds and blue spaces, has disappeared completely, whilst the vegetation has changed to a dull monochrome so that the forms of the hills are flattened out, and any sense of recession within the composition has been compromised. Some fine passages of fluent pattern-making remain, however, and these, together with what appears to be a genuine signature and some characteristic pencil drawing (made more prominent by the fading), mean that there is no doubt that the work is by Girtin. This is confirmed by the form of the highly compressed composition, which, like A Mountain Stream in Spate (TG1675), another work that has been cautiously dated to about 1800, sees a piling-up of hills. The fact that the signature to the left has been partially cut is also characteristic of authentic works by Girtin, since it follows his typical practice of signing works so that the inscription strays onto an original washline mount, which has subsequently been removed.
The bridge adjacent to the watermill near Dolgellau resembles that seen in a slight sketch in the collection of The Whitworth, University of Manchester (see figure 4) though there is not enough detail or context to be sure that it was made on Girtin's visit to North Wales.
(?) 1798
The Cain Falls (Pistyll Cain), near Dolgellau
TG1319
1798 - 1799
An Overshot Mill
TG1428
(?) 1800
A Mountain Stream in Spate, Possibly the River Wharfe
TG1675
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