At the beginning of the 20th century, the Mallionda Watermill was owned by the “Lilis” or “Liolios” family, a Turkish family residing in Mesotopos. After the compulsory population exchange between Greece and Turkey, the mill came into the possession of Yiannis and Evdokia Katachanas. It operated until the Greek Civil War, when in 1946, the roof was removed at the authorities’ request.

The Katachanas family, including the parents and their nine children, lived in the mill and shared the daily tasks necessary for production, flour transport, building maintenance, and upkeep of the milling mechanism. They ground grain from Mesotopos and the surrounding villages: Eresos, Agra, Antissa, and Chidira. The miller was paid one-twentieth of the flour.

The idea to revive a watermill in Mallionda emerged in the 1980s but took on a new direction in 2001. With the collaboration of the “Anagennisi” and “Mallionda” Associations, after many years of persistent effort, the project to restore the watermill began in the spring of 2020 and was completed in 2024.

Who lived here in the watermill?

The miller’s family lived here, parents and children together. They all shared the daily chores: grinding wheat, cleaning the mill, and fixing any damages.

So, did every household have its own watermill?

No, they didn’t. Each watermill served many families. People from nearby villages would come here to grind their wheat into flour, with the help of the miller. As payment, they would give him a portion of the flour.

How Does a Watermill Work?

A watermill operates using the power of water.

The local residents constructed a small dam in the riverbed and a channel along the western bank of the river. Water from the channel reached the top of the water tower. Inside it there is a steeply inclined pipe, which forcefully directs water down to the waterwheel.

At the center of the waterwheel, a vertical shaft is attached. This shaft rotates simultaneously with the waterwheel and drives the upper millstone, while the lower millstone remains stationary. Above the millstones there is a funnel that holds the grain. The grain gradually falls into the space between the millstones, where it is ground into flour.

In the valley, eleven out of the twelve mills used water in succession, taking advantage of the natural slope of the terrain. The water from the river, after turning the waterwheel of each mill, flowed naturally to the next mill downstream. Only one mill, Dafnoula’s, located higher up from the “ampouli” area, operated independently.

The Watermill of Dafnoula

Among the twelve watermills in Malliontas, only one—Dafnoula’s—operated independently. It was located higher up, above the area known as “Ampouli.”

Water reached the top of the mill tower through a narrow channel called a mylavlaki. On Lesvos, this tower is known as a kolethra. Inside the tower, a steeply inclined pipe, called the vageni, carried the water from the top down to the waterwheel. The vageni narrowed toward its end, so the water would strike the wheel horizontally and with strong force.

At the center of the wheel was a vertical shaft known as the adrakhti. As the waterwheel turned, it set it in motion. This shaft was connected to the upper millstone. While the upper stone rotated, the lower stone remained fixed. Above the stones sat a funnel-shaped container called the kofinida, where grain was poured. Bit by bit, the grain would fall between the millstones and be ground into flour.

But how did it all work? There are no buttons or wires…

Traditional mills didn’t rely on electricity. They ran entirely on natural forces. Windmills used wind power; watermills, like Dafnoula’s, used flowing water. Water was diverted from a nearby river and channeled, with precise engineering, onto a wheel. The force of the water turned the wheel, which in turn rotated the millstone. That rotation crushed the grain into fine flour, just as it had been done for generations.