De Westermolen, Kollumerpomp
Encyclopedia
De Westermolen is a smock mill in Kollumerpomp
Kollumerpomp
Kollumerpomp is a small village in Kollumerland c.a. in the province Friesland of the Netherlands and has around the 440 citizens. There is a restored windmill in the village - De Westermolen.-References:...

, Friesland
Friesland
Friesland is a province in the north of the Netherlands and part of the ancient region of Frisia.Until the end of 1996, the province bore Friesland as its official name. In 1997 this Dutch name lost its official status to the Frisian Fryslân...

, 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 1845. The mill has been restored to working order. It 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 23746.

History

De Westermolen was built in 1845 to drain the 300 hectares (741.3 acre) Ooster- en Wester- Nieuwkruisland polder
Polder
A polder is a low-lying tract of land enclosed by embankments known as dikes, that forms an artificial hydrological entity, meaning it has no connection with outside water other than through manually-operated devices...

. As well as draining the polder, it could also pump water into the polder. The mill worked until 1959, when a stock broke in a storm. Permission was then sought to demolish the mill, but this was refused. On 4 March 1961, the mill was bought by the Gemeente Kollumerland en Nieuwkruisland for ƒ1. The mill was restored at a cost of ƒ7,500. A diesel engine
Diesel engine
A diesel engine is an internal combustion engine that uses the heat of compression to initiate ignition to burn the fuel, which is injected into the combustion chamber...

 was placed in the mill to work the Archimedes screw. A further restoration in 1984 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...

 Thijs Jellema of Birdaard saw the diesel engine replaced by an electric motor
Electric motor
An electric motor converts electrical energy into mechanical energy.Most electric motors operate through the interaction of magnetic fields and current-carrying conductors to generate force...

. Further work by Jellema in 1987 returned the mill to working order. Ownership of the mill had passed to the Monumentenstichting Kollumerland c.a. en Nieuwkruisland by 1996, when further restoration work was carried out. An electrically driven pump now stands next to the mill.

Description

De Westermolen is what the Dutch describe as a Grondzeiler. It is a two-storey smock mill on a single-storey base. There is no stage, the sails reaching down almost to ground level. The mill is winded by tailpole and winch. The smock and cap are thatched. The sails are Common sails. The sails on the inner stock have a span of 17.81 metre, while those on the outer stock have a span of 17.96 metre. The sails are carried on a cast iron windshaft which was cast by Prins van Oranji, 's Gravenhage, in 1870. The windshaft also carries the brake wheel which has 60 cogs. This drives the wallower (33 cogs) at the top of the upright shaft. At the bottom of the upright shaft is the crown wheel, which has 41 cogs, drives a gearwheel with 42 cogs on the axle of the Archimedes screw. The axle of the Archimedes screw is 465 millimetre diameter. The screw is 1.37 metre diameter . It is inclined at 16.7°. Each revolution of the screw lifts 969 litres (213.2 imp gal) of water. The Archimedes screw that pumped water into the polder has been removed.

Public access

De Westermolen is open on Friday mornings. It is also open on Saturday mornings if there is enough wind to work the mill.
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