De Phenix () is a smock mill in

Nes, Ameland Nes is the second largest village on the island of Ameland, one of the West Frisian Islands in the northern Netherlands. It constitutes the main village of the eastern, Roman Catholic part of Ameland and had a population of 1,155 as of January 2 ...

Friesland Friesland ( ; ; official ), historically and traditionally known as Frisia (), named after the Frisians, is a Provinces of the Netherlands, province of the Netherlands located in the country's northern part. It is situated west of Groningen (p ...

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

which was built in 1880 and is in working order. The mill is listed as a

Rijksmonument A (, ) 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 had 61,822 l ...

History

The first mill on the site was 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 central vertical post. The vertical post is supported by four quarter bars. These ar ...

that was wrecked by a storm on 31 December 1833. It was replaced by a smock mill, ''De Hoop'' () in 1834. On 20 June 1880, ''De Hoop'' was struck by

lightning Lightning is a natural phenomenon consisting of electrostatic discharges occurring through the atmosphere between two electrically charged regions. One or both regions are within the atmosphere, with the second region sometimes occurring on ...

and destroyed by fire. ''De Phenix'' was built to replace it . It was erected in 1880 by the

millwright A millwright is a craftsman or skilled tradesman who installs, dismantles, maintains, repairs, reassembles, and moves machinery in factories, power plants, and construction sites. The term ''millwright'' (also known as ''industrial mechanic'') ...

Van der Meer of Harlingen. Th mill was restored in 1952 and again in 1982 by millwright Westra of

Franeker Franeker (; ) is one of the eleven historical City rights in the Low Countries, cities of Friesland and capital of the municipality of Waadhoeke. It is located north of the Van Harinxmakanaal and about west of Leeuwarden. As of 2023, it had 13,0 ...

. It is the only Grondzeiler surviving in Friesland that is a corn mill. ''De Phenix'' is listed as a

, number 7611.

Description

''De Phenix'' is what the Dutch describe as a "Grondzeiler". There is no stage, the sails reaching almost to ground level. It is a smock mill on a low brick base. The smock and cap are

thatch Thatching is the craft of building a roof with dry vegetation such as straw, Phragmites, water reed, Cyperaceae, sedge (''Cladium mariscus''), Juncus, rushes, Calluna, heather, or palm branches, layering the vegetation so as to shed water away fr ...

ed. The mill is winded by tailpole and winch. The sails are

Common sails Windmills are powered by their sails. Sails are found in different forms, from primitive common sails to the advanced patent sails. Jib sails The jib sail is found in Mediterranean countries and consists of a simple triangle of cloth wound r ...

. They have a span of . The sails are carried on a cast-iron ''windshaft'' which was made by Penn & Bauduin in 1900. The ''windshaft'' also carries the ''brake wheel'', which has 56 cogs. This drives the ''wallower'' (33 cogs) at the top of the ''upright shaft''. At the bottom of the ''upright shaft'', the ''great spur wheel'', which has 63 cogs. The ''great spur wheel'' drives one pair of millstones via a ''lantern pinion stone nut'' which has 19 staves. The millstones are diameter.

Millers

*J P Boelens (1836- ) References for above:-

References

{{Dutch Windmills Windmills in Friesland Windmills completed in 1880 Smock mills in the Netherlands Grinding mills in the Netherlands Agricultural buildings in the Netherlands Rijksmonuments in Friesland Octagonal buildings in the Netherlands