Pyrgos appears for the first time in a written source of the Frank era, in a letter of 1224 by Pope Honorius III. The establishment of a monastery in Pyrgos during the same century (13th) is also mentioned, being the only monastery for men of the Latin (Roman Catholic) Monastic Order of the Cistercians in Cyprus. It seems that the Cistercian monks resided in Pyrgos from 1238 until 1251, maintaining their properties there at least until the end of the 15th century.
The Cistercians cultivated their estate and utilised the agricultural production. For that purpose they had constructed a high-tech irrigation system, as they were in the habit of doing in their abbeys and other places
The village's extant, imposing, water-driven mill with its characteristic Mediaeval arch in the area of the vane, the triangular cistern above, and the extremely large (35X25 m.), rectangular, double cistern about 300 meters north-west of the mill, are connected with the exploitation of the water's energy.
The cistern was supplied by the waters of a spring that still exists today. Through a long raceway the water was gathered in the triangular cistern and was channelled to the mill's pit, inside the tall, scaled water-tower.
These constructions, as well as the large-scale irrigation and hydraulic system, are characteristics of the Cistercians' high-tech and unique samples of their type in Cyprus, perhaps also of the entire eastern Mediterranean.
Because of its architectural and historical importance, the Mediaeval Water-mill in Pyrgos has been declared -since 1984 -as an "Ancient Monument" (Index II) by the Antiquities Department.
The excavations in the water-driven flourmill -in the village Pyrgos of the Limassol district -are complete. The excavation focused on three sectors and the following operations were done:
At a higher level, north of the western cistern, the more recent, stone-made, raceway (width 30-35 cm) was cleaned. A section of it was also traced further north and an older raceway (width 1.25-1.50 m), bearing a coating and lime-mortar, was uncovered. According to the architectural remains, the mill had at least two construction phases and was in use for several centuries, as it is indicated by the very few shells of enamelled pottery that were found in the soils of the floor.