The Netherlands and Belgium are so small and so intertwined in history and language that for me, a Canadian, it feels that they are communities in neighboring townships rather than separate countries. To be such a tiny country as Holland and have such power in the world, is strange to me, living in the second largest country in the world, Canada. To drive the length of Holland is no more than we take to drive to our cottages. Windmills and water mills in some form are found world wide. In Canada and the United States the arriving settlers from Europe brought their skills with them and a mill had to be constructed in some form as soon as the forests were cleared to plant grain, without which they would perish.

 In Derbyshire, England- my Grandparents family lived in the shadow of the Heage village windmill and from there fetched their flour once a week on bake day.
 
 Heage windmill     artist, Veronica Arnold


 

 I have seen windmills throughout Europe, but it is the Netherlands that I am most familiar with -windmills in the north and watermills mainly in the south. Driving through the Netherlands the mills look to be generally in excellent condition and frequently in working order. Some have been turned into private homes. There are many types of mills--for drainage of low land, for grinding grains, industry, and for water power. The soaring modern wind turbines which dominate the landscape, particularly to the west and north, are structures of majesty and serene beauty.  Wind and water mills have been essential through the centuries for the very existence of most of the country for pumping water to make the land habitable. They were also for cutting timber, and grinding grains. World wide, without mills for grinding and drainage, it is debatable as to whether the human race would have ‘progressed’- if I dare use such a description, to their present day status.
 The quiet beauty of the mills in the landscape of Holland is inescapable; they are structures of dignity and strength. Of course, many have vanished with time and neglect after they went out of use, or were destroyed in the wars.

Types of wind and watermills found in The Netherlands

     WIPMOLEN
 
The wipmolen is the smallest kind of mill and is a watermill. It is used as a drainage mill. The wind turns the wings and these wings are connected to the waterwheel which turns and the water is pumped to the outside of the dikes. Poldermolen: the word polder means a piece of land that was sea before; people put dikes in the sea in a closed circle or rectangle and pumped the water which was inside the dikes out and so dry land was gained - the polders.
                                                                                                  SPINNEKOP

This is the smallest type of WIPMOLEN and the lower part is covered in tiles. These were the types of mills often owned by farmers.


BINNENKRUIER
A polder is land which used to be underwater but has been drained by making dikes around the water and pumping out the water. This type of mill resembles the ZUID-HOLLANDSE POLDERMOLEN, but is heavier. The lower part is made of wood. Kruien means placing the sails into the wind. The rope at the tail is the brake. This type of mill could pump 60 m3 each MINUTE.

THE ZUID-HOLLANDSE POLDERMOLEN De Zuid-Hollandse Poldermolen (a "buitenkruier") was developed out of the Noord-Hollandse Poldermolen (a "binnenkruier"). The word kruien means to put the sails in the wind so that they can catch most wind and turn faster. "Binnenkruien" now means that the turnable part of the mill with the sails can be turned from inside the mill and the word "buitenkruier" means that the turnable part of the mill had to be turned from outside the mill. Look at the picture of the Zuid-Holandse Poldermolen and you will see arms that reach to the ground at the back of the mill; these are truningarms to turn the turnable part of the mill and its sails.
     WEIDEMOLEN                                              
of aanbrengertje was owned by the farmer and was used to drain the weide. Weide is the field (meadow) where cows graze. The tail at the back made sure that the mill was always directy into the wind.
                                                                                                                                             JASKER
 

A simple type of poldermolen for drainage and owned by the farmer.

 

     STANDAARDMOLEN                     

is the oldest type of mill. It turns like the WIPMOLEN on a vertical axis that goes into the ground.
All these mills are corn mills. Sacks of flour were lifted by a lifthook to the back of the mill. Depending on the lower part, there is a difference between open and closed standerdmills

 

                                                                                                                               STELLINGMOLEN

To catch enough wind to operate,a mill has to be high. To work the mill a STELLING (walking part) was required, otherwise the miller could not reach the sails. Mills that had no STELLING and where the sails almost touch the ground are called GRONDZEILERS (ground sail types) In the lower part there is enough space to enter with a horse and cart. These mills are cornmills. The mill in the picture has a WINDROSE, which makes the automatic setting of the sails to the wind possible.

    HOUTZAAGMOLEN

(woodsawing mill) is an industrial, heavy duty mill. The STELLING (platform) enables the miller to reach the mill.

                                 ALTROKMOLEN
 

a medium weight mill, lighter duty than the HOUTZAAGMOLEN. It was used to saw wood and trees which often were brought to the mill by floating them on the water. It is named after the type of clothing worn in PFALZ in Germany.
This mill could turn as a whole unit, which makes it an ONDERKRUIER (underturner)
 

     BELTMOLEN                              


was built on a hill. By using this natural height a platform was not necessary. The mill had an entrance in the front and also in the back to allow a horse and cart to enter the mill through one and leave through the other. These mills are corn mills


                                                                                  WATERRADMOLEN.
 

mostly in South Holland and on small streams and rivers, usually no more that 3 meters wide. They often were used to produce paper. To prevent bits of wood, water plants and duckweed, jamming up the intake on the polder side, there is a gate with bars to hold back debris. The miller must clean this gate regularly from a plank bridge built across the water intake along the upper part of the gate.

THE TORENMOLEN (towermill)                       

 is an INNERKRUIER -- a corn mill of which only the top can turn in the wind (kruien)





                           THE AMERIKAAN-                             
                                             a metal windwheel with one or two metal tailfins to set the mill in or out of the wind. It was introduced around 1900 from CANADA and the US.

     THE WINDTURBINE                             

                          
 is a modern mill to produce electricity.

 When not operating, the different positions of the sails mean something and are used to give information, the mill being elevated and easily seen in the flat Dutch landscape

Above left: rest for a short time during working period
Above right: rest for a longer period
Below left: 'celebration' position, with the upper sail just before the vertical
Below right:'mourning' position, with the upper sail past the vertical
(The sails turn counterclockwise)
The sails set at an angle of 45 degrees to the vertical indicates that the mill will be unused for a considerable time. A rest of short duration when the mill is ready to commence work at any moment, as soon as the wind gets up, is shown by one pair of sails in
the vertical and the other pair in the horizontal position
       
The most complete reference I know of on the Mills of the Netherlands is 'The Dutch Windmill', author Frederick Stokhuyzen (1891-1976), former chairman of 'De Hollandsche Molen', Association for the Preservation of Windmills in the Netherlands.
http://webserv.nhl.nl/~smits/windmill.htm This booklet should be referred to if you wish to expand on any aspect of mills that I have briefly touched upon. It is totally fascinating reading.