Ta’ Kola Windmill in ix-Xagħra, Gozo, is one of the few surviving windmills on the Maltese Islands dating back to the Knights’ Period. Its origins go back to 1725 but it seems to have been built of poor quality stone and mortar and had to be reconstructed in the 1780s. The windmill’s name Ta’ Kola comes from the last miller, who was popularly known as Żeppu ta’ Kola (Joseph, son of Nikola).
When the wind was right for the mill to operate, the miller would blow through a triton-shell (Maltese bronja) to let everynoe know and villagers would bring their grain to be ground into flour. The heavy millstones can still be seen at the top of the mill linked to the central milling mechanism, around which, are the rooms where the miller lived and worked.
On the ground floor is the workshop with a vast array of historic tools, some of which were manufactured by the owners of the mill. On the first floor, the living quarters of the miller and his family, have been recreated using traditional furniture and Gozitan crafts. You can visit the miller’s dining room, bedrooms, and kitchen which is equipped with traditional utensils and cooking ware rarely seen today.
