WINDMILLS OF HOLLAND

                                Kinderdijk

            Kinderdijk is a small village 16 kilometers from Rotterdam and a little less than 10 kilometers from the city border of Dordrecht, the oldest city in Holland. The village is unique for its 19 windmills dating from the 1500s.

The name is derived from a 16^th century legend about a baby, a cradle and a cat that all survived after being tossed into raging waters. For centuries the Dutch were at the mercy of floods. The innovative structures drain water from  polders (reclaimed land below sea level) pumping it into rivers and canals. This distributes the water levels and prevents devastating flooding. Today engines turn paddle wheels that scoop up water to redeposit it. Understandably the country has a unique bond with windmills.

            Kinderdijk is the only place in the world where one can find so many windmills concentrated in such a small area, and is the reason Kinderdijk is a UNESCO site.

            The Kinderdijk milling complex consists of 8 stone brick windmills,1738, of the waterboard Nederwaard; 8 thatched windmills, 1740, of the waterboard Overwaard; 2 stone windmills, 1760,  of the polder Nieuw-Lekkerland; and 1 windmill, 1521,  of the polder Blokweer. The last windmill  burned down in 1997, but has been rebuilt and operational since the spring of 2000.  

Kinderdijk is the final station of water of the Alblasserwaard, an area approximately 10 by 20 miles, before the river Lek empties into the sea. Even today rain water needs to be disposed of. Since the 1950's water has been pumped by one of the largest pumping stations in the world.  However, in case of emergency, the windmills that were operational until WW II still can be used.

Windmills have two doors on opposite sides because the blades are always facing the wind, and the direction of the wind vary. The blades turning in front of the door make for a dangerous situation!

The top floor of the windmill rotates with the blades and the tail of the mill, and therefore a chimney cannot be attached to the roof. Sparks of the open fire used to heat the windmill might set the thatch roof on fire. The chimney of a windmill is horizontal instead of vertical. The smoke would be blown down if there was only one ending. The second ending creates a natural draft through the chimney pulling the smoke out.

A windmill is a windmill. Not necessarily so! Watermills, can drain the land like in Kinderdijk. Grindingmills, grind flour, as well as colors to dye fabrics. Sawing mills cut wood. There are also modern two or three-blade electricity windmills. Windmills have different shapes and constructions. Windmills in old cities were built on a house, so they would reach over the buildings of the city. Windmill blades are 42-feet long and mills are placed at least 1300-feet apart. There are 1000 windmills left in Holland, a tiny fraction of the many mills that once dotted the landscape.

When there is a hole in the sail, it is patched, if there is another hole another patch is made, and when there are more patches than sail the sail is replaced. The old sail would be used for making children’s clothes. Capacity of an older windmill is 40.000 liters/min while capacity of the Nederwaard pumps is 1.350.000 liters/min.