De Zaandplatte is a

smock mill The smock mill is a type of windmill that consists of a sloping, horizontally weatherboarded, thatched, or shingled tower, usually with six or eight sides. It is topped with a roof or cap that rotates to bring the sails into the wind. This t ...

Ruinen Ruinen is a village in the Dutch province of Drenthe. It is located in the municipality of De Wolden, about 10 km northwest of Hoogeveen. The Dwingelderveld National Park is located near Ruinen. History The village was first mentioned in ...

Drenthe Drenthe () is a province of the Netherlands located in the northeastern part of the country. It is bordered by Overijssel to the south, Friesland to the west, Groningen to the north, and the German state of Lower Saxony to the east. As of Jan ...

, the

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 ...

. The mill was built in 1964 and 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 ...

, number 422828.

History

A corn mill stood on this site as early as 1673, when it was destroyed by soldiers. This mill 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 ...

. It was rebuilt and stood until 1878. The present mill was built at Echten in 1866 by

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'') ...

Zilverberg for the Van Holthe family. In 1964, the mill was re-erected at Ruinen. It was used as a

holiday home A holiday is a day or other period of time set aside for festivals or recreation. ''Public holidays'' are set by public authorities and vary by state or region. Religious holidays are set by religious organisations for their members and are oft ...

but its condition deteriorated over the years. In 1989 the Stichting Vrienden van der Ruinen Molen (English: ''Society of Friends of the Ruinen Mill'') was set up to preserve the mill. In 1993 the mill was sold to the Gemeente Ruinen, who owned it until 1995 when ownership was transferred to the Stichting Vrienden van der Ruinen Molen. A restoration of the mill to full working order started in 1995. (Click on "Geschiedenis" to view.) The mill was officially opened on 6 September 1996.

Description

The ''Molen van Rolde'' is what the Dutch describe as an "achtkante beltmolen". It is a two-storey smock mill on a single-storey brick base. The mill is built on a mound some high. There is no stage, the sails reaching down almost to 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 mill is winded by a tailpole and winch. The four Common sails, which have a span of , are carried in a cast-iron ''windshaft'', which was cast by Fabrikaat Enthoven in 1863. The ''windshaft'' also carries the ''brake wheel'', which has 63 cogs. The ''brake wheel'' drives the ''wallower'' (31 cogs) at the top of the ''upright shaft''. At the bottom of the ''upright shaft'' the ''great spur wheel'', which has 88 cogs, drives the diameter Cullen

millstone Millstones or mill stones are stones used in gristmills, used for triturating, crushing or, more specifically, grinding wheat or other grains. They are sometimes referred to as grindstones or grinding stones. Millstones come in pairs: a s ...

s and diameter French Burr millstones via ''lantern pinion stone nuts'' which have 31 staves each. (Click on "Technische gegevens" to view.)

Public access

''De Zaandplatte'' is open to the public by on Saturdays from 09:30 - 13:00, on Wednesdays and Thursdays in July and August from 14:00 - 16:30 and at other times by appointment. (Click on "Informatie" to view.)

References

External links

De Zaandplatte website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zaandplatte, Ruinen Windmills in Drenthe Smock mills in the Netherlands Windmills completed in 1964 Grinding mills in the Netherlands Rijksmonuments in Drenthe Octagonal buildings in the Netherlands De Zaandplatte, Ruinen