Dutch windmills: the Lonneker molen in Lonneker, The Netherlands
A few days ago, I went to visit another windmill near my home town, the Lonneker molen.
This model of windmill is probably more familiar to you than the post mill I wrote about earlier. There actually was a post mill in this spot before, but it burned down in 1847 and a new windmill was built in 1851:
Olympus Stylus 1s, 33mm, ISO100, f5.6, 1/125
It is a beltmolen, which roughly translates as "windmill on a sand hill". These mills are much bigger than post mills, and only the top is turned into the wind, the rest is stationary. An interesting feature of this mill is that it is a drive-through; farmers drove their carts with grain in at one end, and drove out with the flour at the other end.
Here you see the back of the mill, with the exit doors, and the beams that hold the top and converge at the bottom. This is the construction used to turn the top of the mill into the wind:
Olympus Stylus 1s, 28mm, ISO100, f5.6, 1/100
At the bottom of the construction there is a winch with gears that allows the heavy top to be moved by hand (the handle is stored in a safe place):
Olympus Stylus 1s, 42mm, ISO200, f5.6, 1/80
Grain mills like this were once found all over the landscape, and all the local farmers went there for milling their grain. The ones still standing are operated by volunteers, and you can still bring your grain for milling or buy flour on some days.
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Beautiful. I've never seen a real one...must be something to see in person. Great shots.
Thank you! No windmills at all where you live?
No windmills...not working ones that I know of.....we do have a bunch of solar wind mills - that are called solar wind power - and these are dotted all over the country sides...and some are along the shores of the Great Lakes....I took some photos of it a few years ago....but the pictures aren't crisp - not burry but just not crisp. Many of them have been turned off bc the locals didn't like them. They are still there, just not working.
Do they like them better when they stand still? We have those as well, mostly at sea. Across the border in Germany there are plenty of them, they have more country to place them in 8-).
No, they want them gone. There have been a lot of protests and whatnot. The turbines are quiet but they believe all kinds of conspiracies of illnesses.
Illnesses from windmills? We Dutch should all be dead by now then.
lol...I know.....right? There's no science to prove it like there is for hydro towers.
Merry Christmas too @ordu.
And to you!
nice photo
Thanks.
Interesting mill. Nice photos!
Thank you!
I was waiting for this. I guess you followed my suggestion. Really beautiful :-)
Thanks!
I followed your suggestion some time before, but you were asleep 8-P.
I resteemed your beautiful product. I'll find your previous post as well. Greetings from your neighbourhood Niedersachsen ;-)
Thanks! And greetings back! Are you close enough to the Dutch border to share the same Niedersächsisch?
No but in it's capital Hannover.
Doar bin ik wal nen moal gewest.
Verstehst du das?
Da bin ich... mal gewesen. There is actually no dialect in Hannover. Some call it "oxford-deutsch" ;)
... = wohl/schon ein (Mal gewesen). Hochdeutsch is not really my thing. I can understand it perfectly and speak it passably well, but my Dutch, English, and French are better.
I love windmills, such mysteries buildings i find. Great pics!
Thank you!