Watermolen

English translation

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Description

Introduction

Brief history of peat extraction in Friesland. Peat extraction was already taking place in Friesland in the 13th century. At that time, no consideration was given to the consequences, which caused entire tracts of land to turn into water or wasteland. In 1488 the authorities began to involve themselves in peat extraction for the first time; landowners were then obliged to request permission and a certain distance from roads and dykes had to be observed. In 1751 peat workers from Giethoorn introduced a new method of peat extraction, in which the peat was dredged with a dredging beam, after which it was left to dry elsewhere. The consequence was that the settling fields, or ridges as in traditional peat extraction, were absent, which meant that increasingly large water pools were formed through erosion.

Origin of the Peat Polders In 1823 an investigation was conducted into the water pools expanded by peat extraction in the grietenijen Haskerland, Schoterland and Aengwirden. The peat extraction had already caused such great damage here that only large-scale polder reclamation could provide a solution. The aforementioned grietenijen were divided into seven peat districts for this purpose. The peat districts were placed under four Peat Polders which took on the character of a water board, with the aim of reclaiming worked-out or still-to-be-worked peat lands. The Provincial Delegates played a greater role in the Peat Polders than was the case with ordinary water boards. With the Peat Polders it was usually a matter of very large areas for which sometimes dozens of mills were needed. These were also, by Frisian standards, large mills, usually with a wingspan of between 22 and 25 metres. This also made it possible for the miller to live in the mill, which was very unusual in Friesland.

Peat Polder of the 6th and 7th Peat District (3096 hectares) The regulation concerning the arrangement and governance of the reclamation, peat extraction and drainage of the 6th and 7th peat district was established by decision of the States of 23-2-1853. In the draft regulation it was established that five water mills should be placed at locations to be determined later to maintain the polder water at a proper level. In various phases nine mills were built between 1856 and 1875. Three mills pumped the water from the drainages into the polder reservoir (mills 7, 8 and 9), two pumped the water directly onto the Friesian reservoir (mills 1 and 2) and four mills pumped the polder reservoir onto the Friesian reservoir (mills 3, 4, 5 and 6). In 1875 an auxiliary steam pumping station was built which, together with the nine mills, pumped the peat polder. In 1905 the auxiliary steam pumping station was rebuilt so that the entire polder could be pumped with it. After it became clear that this was indeed the case, the Provincial Delegates granted permission in 1911 to sell or demolish the mills. Mill no. 1 at Ulesprong was not demolished in this process, but merely stripped of its cap and sails and sold as a dwelling. The dwelling was used by the operator of the ferry boat located at the mill.

Polder Mill no. 1 at the Ulesprong Incomplete polder mill. A fine former polder mill No. 1 of the Peat Polder of the 6th and 7th Peat District, situated beautifully along the Nieuwe Vaart and striking in the open polder landscape. The mill was built in 1856 according to a specification and accompanying budget drawn up by the Peat Polder in March of that year. The budget mentioned amounted to 11,073.06. The mill was the first in a row of 6 mills, which in common speech were called: "Hannemoune", "Kaspermoune", "Oebelemoune", "Lammertsmoune", "Bonnemoune" and "Jeenmoune". Three more mills stood in the polder itself. From 1875 mill No. 1 pumped together with the eight other mills and an auxiliary steam pumping station the Peat Polder of the 6th and 7th Peat District. In 1911 the mills were demolished. Of mill no. 1 only the cap and sails were removed.

During the restoration of the octagonal section, components were incorporated from the wood-sawing mill "De Visser" built in 1662 and burned on 16 January 1964 in Leeuwarden. The octagonal section has housed a dwelling from time immemorial. Originally two access doors (of which one is now bricked up).

Description

Octagonal wooden polder mill, consisting of a masonry base and an octagonal section with a reed roof. The side walls are furnished with three wooden windows with a calf and partly an intermediate calf, above which a fixed fanlight with two opening windows; closable shutters. In the reed roof four roof boxes with a removable small window. INTERIOR. In the mill parts of the running gear including beater and spindle, as well as the masonry water channels.

Valuation

The octagonal polder mill from 1856 is of cultural-historical, hydraulic-engineering and landscape importance:

- for the history of peat extraction in Friesland;

- for the history of the Peat Districts and Peat Polders in Friesland;

- because of its role in the emergence of the pumping history of the Peat Polder of the 6th and 7th Peat District;

- because of the rarity of (originally) inhabited polder mills in the north of our country;

- because of its landscape significance as a striking landmark on the edge of the Peat Polder of the 6th and 7th Peat District created by peat extraction and polder reclamation.