Rolde windmill
Corn mill from 1873 on the Grote Brink, in the centre of Rolde. Volunteer millers still keep it turning and grinding.
The Rolde windmill is an octagonal smock mill on a small mound on the Grote Brink. Even so, it is not a mound mill, as it has no passage through the mound for carts: it is a ground-sailer. The mill has no official name.
The millwright Hunse from Assen built the mill in 1873 as a corn mill and hulling mill. It replaced a mill that had burnt down on 26 August 1872. Over the years the mill had several owners, and when the customers fell away, it was threatened with demolition. After the Second World War money was found for a major restoration, and another followed in the 1970s. During repairs in 2007 the cast-iron windshaft turned out to be so badly cracked that it was too dangerous to let the mill turn; from October 2008 the mill had a newly cast one. Another restoration was completed in 2023.
Volunteer millers keep the mill turning and grinding. On the days it is open, they are glad to tell visitors about their craft, and flour from the mill is for sale, including flour for making pancakes.
Facts
- Built: 1873
- Millwright: Hunse, Assen
- Type: octagonal smock mill, ground-sailer
- Condition: working, in grinding order (run by volunteers)
- Sail span: 19.10 metres
- Listed national monument: since 10 August 1965
- Address: Grote Brink 24, Rolde
Revolutions per year:
- 2016: 94,665
- 2017: 79,690
- 2018: 164,020
- 2019: 116,030
- 2020: 145,098
