Aurora is a tower mill in Dichteren,

Gelderland Gelderland (), also known as Guelders () in English, is a province of the Netherlands, occupying the centre-east of the country. With a total area of of which is water, it is the largest province of the Netherlands by land area, and second by ...

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

which was built in 1870 and has been restored to working order. The mill is listed as a

Rijksmonument A rijksmonument (, ) is a national heritage site of the Netherlands, listed by the agency Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed (RCE) acting for the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. At the end of February 2015, the Netherlands ...

History

There has been a windmill in Dichteren since 1459. A mill was also recorded as standing in 1501. On 12 August 1612 a

post mill The post mill is the earliest type of European windmill. Its defining feature is that the whole body of the mill that houses the machinery is mounted on a single vertical post, around which it can be turned to bring the sails into the wind. All p ...

here was severely damaged by

lightning Lightning is a naturally occurring electrostatic discharge during which two electric charge, electrically charged regions, both in the atmosphere or with one on the land, ground, temporarily neutralize themselves, causing the instantaneous ...

. The mill here was blown down on 4 November 1800, with two casualties. It stood on the Houtkamp. (click on internal link to access webpage) A replacement post mill was built in 1801. It was demolished in 1870. Parts of the post mill were incorporated in ''Aurora'', the tower mill built to replace it. This mill was built on a new site as the old site was not well placed for wind. ''Aurora'' was built for A Harbers, it was to remain in the ownership of the Harbers family until 1976. In 1953, the mill was fitted with two Ten Have sails. A photograph shows that all four sails were fitted with streamlined leading edges on the Van Bussel system. In 1976, the mill was sold to the Gemeente Doetinchem. The Ten Have sails were removed when the mill was restored in 1978, and unstreamlined

Common sails Common may refer to: Places * Common, a townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland * Boston Common, a central public park in Boston, Massachusetts * Cambridge Common, common land area in Cambridge, Massachusetts * Clapham Common, originally com ...

were fitted in their place. The windshaft from ''Sara Catharina'', Kerkdriel, Gelderland was fitted at this date, with the windshaft from ''Aurora'' going to that mill. The restored mill was reopened on 16 September 1978. ''Aurora'' is listed as a

, № 13089.

Description

''Aurora'' is what the Dutch call a "Grondzeiler". It is a three storey tower mill. There is no stage, the sails reaching almost down to ground level. The cap is covered in

dakleer Bituminous waterproofing systems are designed to protect residential and commercial buildings. Bitumen (asphalt or coal-tar pitch) is a mixed substance made up of organic liquids that are highly sticky, viscous, and waterproof. These systems are ...

. Winding is by tailpole and winch. The sails are

. They have a span of . They are carried on a

cast iron Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impuriti ...

''windshaft'', which was cast by NSBM,

Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the club changed to various names before settling on being called after its ...

South Holland South Holland ( nl, Zuid-Holland ) is a province of the Netherlands with a population of over 3.7 million as of October 2021 and a population density of about , making it the country's most populous province and one of the world's most densely ...

in 1848. The windshaft also carries the ''brake wheel'', which has 61 cogs. This drives a ''wallower'' with 32 cogs, which is situated at the top of the ''upright shaft''. At the bottom of the ''upright shaft'' is the ''great spur wheel'', which has 94 cogs. This drives a pair of diameter Cullen

millstone Millstones or mill stones are stones used in gristmills, for grinding wheat or other grains. They are sometimes referred to as grindstones or grinding stones. Millstones come in pairs: a convex stationary base known as the ''bedstone'' and ...

s via a ''lantern pinion stone nut'' with 28 staves.

Public access

''Aurora'' is open on Monday and Thursday from 09:00 to 12:00, or by appointment.

References

External links

Mill website
{{Dutch Windmills Windmills in Gelderland Windmills completed in 1870 Tower mills in the Netherlands Grinding mills in the Netherlands Agricultural buildings in the Netherlands Rijksmonuments in Gelderland Doetinchem Towers completed in 1870