De Wieker Meule is a
smock mill in
De Wijk,
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 ...
. It was built in 1829 and has been restored to working order. The mill is listed as a
Rijksmonument, number 39657.
[ (Click on "Technische gegevens" to view)]
History
De Wieker Meule was originally built in 1764 in
De Leijen. In 1829, the mill was bought by Jacob Schiphorst Haalweide and moved to De Wijk. An extension was built against the base of the mill which housed two pairs of millstones driven by a
diesel engine
The diesel engine, named after the German engineer Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which Combustion, ignition of diesel fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to Mechanics, mechanical Compr ...
and later an
electric motor
An electric motor is a machine that converts electrical energy into mechanical energy. Most electric motors operate through the interaction between the motor's magnetic field and electric current in a electromagnetic coil, wire winding to gene ...
. These were in addition to the two pairs of stones driven by the windmill. In 1926, the mill was bought by the Coöperative Landbouwbank. The ground floor was used at that time as a
bank
A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital m ...
. In 1939, the sails of the mill were streamlined using the
Dekker system. The mill cease to be used commercially in 1962.
[ Restoration of the mill started in 1978,][ (Click on "Geschiedenis" to view)] and was completed in 1980, with a new cap and sails. The Dekkerised sails were replaced with traditional Common sails. The ''Vereniging voor Vreemdelingenverkeer'' established an office in the base of the mill. In 1996, the mill was bought by the Stichting Wieker Meule (English: ''Wieker Mill Society'').
Description
De Wieker Meule what the Dutch describe as an "achtkante stellingmolen" - a smock mill with a stage. It is a three-storey smock mill on a two-storey base. The stage is at third-floor level, above ground level. 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 cap is winded by a tailpole and winch. The four Common sails, which span , are carried on a cast-iron ''windshaft'', which was cast by millwright Enthoven in 1863. The ''windshaft'' carries a clasp arm ''brake wheel'', which has 59 cogs. This drives the ''wallower'' (29 cogs) at the top of the ''upright shaft''. At the bottom of the ''upright shaft'' the ''great spur wheel'' (105 cogs) drives two lantern pinion ''stone nuts'', one having 34 staves and the other having 36 staves.[
]
Public access
De Wieker Meule is open to the public from 13:00 to 18:00 on Saturdays.[ (Click on "Informatie" to view)]
References
External links
Website of the mill
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wieker Meule, De Wijk
Windmills in Drenthe
Smock mills in the Netherlands
Windmills completed in 1829
Rijksmonuments in Drenthe
Octagonal buildings in the Netherlands
De Wieker Meule, De Wijk