The Havelter Molen is a smock mill

Smock mill

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

 at Havelte, Drenthe

Drenthe

Drenthe is a province of the Netherlands, located in the north-east of the country. The capital city is Assen. It is bordered by Overijssel to the south, Friesland to the west, Groningen to the north, and Germany to the east.-History:Drenthe, unlike many other parts of the Netherlands, has been a...

, the Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 which was built in 1914 and has been restored to working order. The mill is listed as a Rijksmonument

Rijksmonument

A rijksmonument is a National Heritage Site of the Netherlands, listed by the agency Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed acting for the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science.-History and criteria:...

, number 21029.

History

A smock mill on this site was standing in 1873. It was originally built as a "grondzeiler" (a mill without a stage whose sails reach almost down to the ground). In that year, the mill was raised on a brick base. The owner at the time was Lucas van de Wetering. In 1906, the mill came into the possession of Berend Hendrik van der Vegt. On 20 March 1914, the mill was struck by lightning

Lightning

Lightning is an atmospheric electrostatic discharge accompanied by thunder, which typically occurs during thunderstorms, and sometimes during volcanic eruptions or dust storms...

 and burnt down, leaving the base standing.

To replace it, a windmill was moved from Wapse by millwright

Millwright

A millwright is a craftsman or tradesman engaged with the construction and maintenance of machinery.Early millwrights were specialist carpenters who erected machines used in agriculture, food processing and processing lumber and paper...

 De Graaf of Zwolle

Zwolle

Zwolle is a municipality and the capital city of the province of Overijssel, Netherlands, 120 kilometers northeast of Amsterdam. Zwolle has about 120,000 citizens.-History:...

, Overijssel

Overijssel

Overijssel is a province of the Netherlands in the central eastern part of the country. The region has a NUTS classification of NL21. The province's name means "Lands across river IJssel". The capital city of Overijssel is Zwolle and the largest city is Enschede...

. It was placed on the surviving base of the earlier mill. The mill was worked by wind until c1950. In 1951, new owner G van der Poll installed a hammer mill in the mill. The mill was restored in 1956-57 and again in 1976, when the cap was removed for repair. The cap was replaced on 21 December 1976. The mill was rethatched in July 2009.

Description

The Havelter Molen is what the Dutch describe as an "achtkante stellingmolen". It is a two storey smock mill on a three storey brick base. There is a stage at second floor level, 6.4 metre above ground level. The smock and cap are thatched. The four Common sails have a span of 19.4 metre. They have streamlined leading edges on the Fok system. The sails are carried in a cast iron windshaft which was cast by Fabrikaat Prins van Oranje of Den Haag in 1868. The windshaft also carries the brake wheel which has 73 cogs. The brake wheel 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 104 cogs drives the 1.4 metre diameter French Burr millstones via a lantern pinion stone nut which has 33 staves.

Public access

The Havelter Molen is open to the public on Saturdays from 09:00 to 13:00 and at other times by appointment.