The Molí de Sant Miquel together with the Alqueria d’Albors or Alqueria de Sant Llorenç, formed part of the group of buildings annexed to the properties of the Monastery of Sant Miquel dels Reis, housing the agricultural facilities of the exploitation of the lands of the Monastery. The mill operated with water from the arm of Sant Miquel of the Rascanya irrigation canal. It is of medieval origin, documented already in operation in the fourteenth century although its location could correspond to that of the mill of the Muslim farmhouse of Rascanya. Its current appearance corresponds to a construction of the seventeenth century on a medieval structure. For centuries and until the nineteenth century it was owned by the monastery of the same name.

The recently restored mill building and the farmhouses, with the construction typology of settlers' houses, constitute an architectural unit formed by a structural system of two bays parallel to the façade, the last body of which to the west, which occupies the mill, is of three bays, possibly for a later extension.

The roof is gabled and the eaves horizontal. The façade has access doors on the ground floor and tight gaps on both sides. On the upper floor we find a system with double level of hollows in the hatch, in the usual way of the houses of the Valencian Six Hundred. It is a typical structure of settler houses of a large agricultural exploitation, such as the lands of the Monastery of Sant Miquel.

The structure is of walls is parallel to the façade, with remains of tapials on the ground floor and some tile factories in high bodies. The central loading line is resolved with pillars and girders and the rear line is again a load-bearing wall. We find low arches for the construction of windows, whose jambs are beveled and the carpentry is placed in the center of the wall, lightening the deep shade of the opening and valuing the plane on the mass, a classicist solution that helps us understand the finishes and composition of the building: window alfeizares, semicircular arches in the original doors, the staggered windows, etc.

The roof is gabled and the eaves horizontal. The façade has a ground floor for habitational use with symmetrical gaps with respect to the different access doors, and on the upper floor a double level system of hollows in the door in the typical manner of the houses of the Valencian Six Hundred. It is a typical structure of settler houses of a large agricultural exploitation, such as the lands of the Monastery of Sant Miquel. The mill does not preserve the traditional machinery but it does seem to have preserved the underground hydraulic part, at least in its architectural structure.

The building has had several stages. The most important, after the subdivision of the property, is the opening of new doors to the street: lintel door, typical of the late nineteenth century. Compartmentalizing the interior as independent houses and colonizing the space, adding a height within the old volume of the platform and losing its spatiality.
A side corral to the east opens directly to the street. This farmyard had the typical satin and shed system, with an open part and a deck to protect the livestock, usually with a part for the workers.

The military cartography of the War of Independence gives good reference to this farmhouse, without naming it. Always referring to San Miguel, where it appears attached to the limit of its property. Thus we can find it in the Plans of Vacani in 1812, in that of Dumoulin also of 1812 and in which the Spanish army elaborated in 1880, representing the attack of Marshal Souchet in Valencia in 1812.



Dades bàsiques

Direcció:

Camí Alqueria Albors, 7
46019 Valencia