The Victor is a drainage mill in Wanswerd (West Frisian: Wânswert),

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 ...

. 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 ...

, number 15644.

History

In 1867, De Victor was built to replace 6 smaller drainage mills and 3

tjasker The tjasker (West Frisian: , German: ) is a small type of windmill used solely for drainage purposes. It is distinctive for its simple construction, featuring only a single inclined shaft that carries the sails on one end and an Archimedes' screw ...

s. The mill was taken over by Stichting De Fryske Mole in 1975 and restored in 1977 when the original Patent Sails were replaced by common sails. In 2006 the windmill was designated as a reserve for emergency situations. The mill is currently awaiting restoration, among which repairs to its foundations, expecting to start in spring 2012.

Description

The ''Victor'' is what the Dutch describe as an "achtkante grondzeiler". It is a smock mill without a stage, the sails reaching almost to the ground. The brick base is one storey high with a three-storey smock on top. Both 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 cap is carried on 16 fixed cast-iron rollers instead of the in the Netherlands common wooden blocks or unfixed rollers moving along a rail, meaning the entire weight of the cap and sails is carried by the axles of the rollers. The four common sails have a span of and are carried on a cast-iron ''windshaft'' cast by foundry ''Koning'' in 1911 as number 0210. Gears and the upright shaft bring the windpower to the Archimedes' screw which is in diameter and can lift of water per revolution. A 22 hp Lister HA diesel engine, once used as auxiliary power, is still in situ in the mill but is no longer connected to the Archimedes' screw.

Public access

The mill is open to the public by appointment.

References

{{Dutch Windmills

External links

Website (dutch)
Windmills in Friesland Smock mills in the Netherlands Rijksmonuments in Friesland Windmills completed in 1867 Octagonal buildings in the Netherlands