An isolated building in the Wadi al-Qarn below the castle of Montfort has attracted the attention of travellers for over two centuries. Various explanations have been suggested for it. A detailed survey, however, carried out in September 1982, now allows its character to be understood more fully than hitherto. It is suggested that the earliest part of the structure was a mill-house, associated witha masonry dam built across the valley. This phase may be dated to the twelfth or thirteenth century before 1228, when it is possible to identify it with a mill dependent on the village of Trefile, which belonged at that date to the Teutonic Order. The second phase represents a domestic hall, built over the top of the mill-house, which then went out of use. The hall's architecture and masonry marks allow it to be associated with a later phase of the castle itself, datable to some period between 1229 and 1266. It is suggested that it was a guest house, dependent on the castle of the Teutonic Knights, and intended for the use of important secular or ecclesiastical visitors and their households.
