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Small drainage mill,Langweer
Water management on a small scale
From the first half of the 19th century small mills were used to maintain the water level in the water-rich Waterland district of North Holland. These mills pumped water from lower-lying ditches to higher ditches. Mills like this are therefore also known as drainage mills. Some of them later made their way to Friesland, like this example from around 1850, which was transferred to the Frisian village of Langweer from the Wormer polder during the First World War. For that reason, in Friesland these little mills are also referred to as Holland mills. The technique used is as simple as it is effective: the sails power a wooden centrifugal pump that raises the water. A valve stops the water flowing back. The large fantail on the body of the mill keeps the sails facing into the wind.