Froskepôlemolen is a smock mill in Leeuwarden, 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 dates from 1896 but was rebuilt on its present site in 1962. The mill has been restored to working order and 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 24507.

History

Froskepôlemolen was originally built in 1896 on the De Zwette waterway, where it was known as De Zwettemolen. It drained the Het Huizumer and the Goutumer Nieuwland 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...

s, which had an area of 350 hectares (864.9 acre) between them. the mill had Patent sails on both stocks, but by 1940 was working on one pair of sails. By 1962, the mill had been surrounded by industrial buildings and it was moved to a new position within Leeuwarden. This was done by loading the mill body onto two barges and transporting it along the Van Harinxmakanaal. The cost of the move was estimated at ƒ42.000. The work was done 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...

 A de Roos. Restoration of the mill was complete in 1966. A further restoration was undertaken in 1982-83. The thatch on the mill was renewed in October 2009. The mill is owned by the Gemeente Leeuwarden

Description

Froskepôlemolen is what the Dutch describe as a Grondzeiler. It is a three storey smock mill on a single storey base. There is no stage, the sails reaching almost to ground level. The mill is winded by tailpole and winch. The smock and cap are thatched. The sails are Common sails. They have a span of 17.8 metre. The sails are carried on a cast iron windshaft. The windshaft also carries the brake wheel which has 45 cogs. This drives the wallower (24 cogs) at the top of the upright shaft. At the bottom of the upright shaft the crown wheel, which has 33 cogs drives a gearwheel with 28 cogs on the axle of the Archimedes screw. The axle of the Archimedes screw is 360 millimetre diameter. The screw is 1.5 metre diameter. It is inclined at 26°. Each revolution of the screw lifts 753 litres (165.6 imp gal) of water.