Jan Pol 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...

 in Dalen

Dalen

Dalen is an old village and a former municipality in the northeastern Netherlands, in the province of Drenthe. Since 1998, Dalen has been part of the municipality of Coevorden....

, in 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...

 province of 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...

. It was built in 1876. The mill is 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 44562.

History

Jan Pol was built in 1876, replacing a mill that had been built in 1820 and burnt down following a lightning

Lightning

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

 strike in 1875. It was built 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...

 Schiller from Dalfsen

Dalfsen

Dalfsen is a municipality and a town in the Salland region of the Dutch province of Overijssel.The present municipality of Dalfsen was created on 1 January 2001 through the merger of the municipalities of Nieuwleusen and Dalfsen....

, 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 working until 1947 and stripped of machinery in 1958. In 1971, restoration of the mill was undertaken by millwright Huberts of Coevorden. The restoration was completed in 1972. Further restoration work was undertaken in 1993. The millwrights were Doornbosch of Adorp

Adorp

Adorp is a village in the municipality of Winsum, in the Netherlands. It is located about 6 km north of Groningen.Until 1990, Adorp was a separate municipality.Adorp is next to Sauwerd and Groningen...

, Groningen

Groningen (province)

Groningen [] is the northeasternmost province of the Netherlands. In the east it borders the German state of Niedersachsen , in the south Drenthe, in the west Friesland and in the north the Wadden Sea...

. The mill is named for Jan Pol, who owned the mill from 1942 until his death in 1982. It is the tallest windmill standing today in Drenthe.

Description

Jan Pol is what the Dutch describe as an "achtkante stellingmolen", a smock mill with a stage. The mill has a three storey brick base with a three storey smock. The height of the stage is 9.9 metre above ground level. The smock and cap are thatched. The four Common sails span 21.6 metre. They are carried on a cast iron windshaft which was made by the millwrights Prins van Oranje, of Den Haag in 1866. The windshaft carries the brake wheel, which has 61 cogs. It drives the wallower at the top of the upright shaft. The wallower has 34 cogs. At the bottom of the upright shaft, the great spur wheel with 115 cogs drives two lantern pinion stone nuts, one with 37 staves and one with 38 staves. The pearl barley stones are driven by a stone nut with 28 cogs.

Public access

Jan Pol is open on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from 1 April to 1 November between 13:30 and 16:30. It is also open throughout the year by appointment.

External links

• Website of the mill