Windmill

Templeuve is the location of a windmill. The windmill tower is first mentioned in 1328 in rent documents of Anchin Abbey

Anchin Abbey

Anchin Abbey was a Benedictine monastery founded in 1079 in the commune of Pecquencourt in what is now the Nord department of France.-History:...

, as the "Moulin de Viertain". It was burned during the war in 1616, and completely rebuilt. It stopped productive work in 1908, and was damaged during the First World War by people wanting wood. Its restoration began in 1980 and the sails were added in 1985. It is now open to visits.

It was successful in the hands of the families De la Porte dit d'Espierres, Robert, Jacops d'Aigrement before the French Revolution

French Revolution

The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...

. It was then owned by the Havet and Band families. The mill, whose tower was erected at the end of the seventeenth century, remained active until the death of miller Jean-Baptiste Houze on 21 November 1907. His widow completed grinding the last bags of grain and then abandoned the mill.

Jean Bruggeman, the president of the Regional Association 'des Amis des Moulins', inspired the municipality of Templeuve to acquire the mill in 1973. The restoration was completed on 15 June 1985, and it was opened by the mayor, Robert Vandelanoitte, and Alphonse Dhelin, the Assistant for Cultural Affairs.

The post-house design means that the internal mechanism and upper structure rests on a pivot, which rotates when wind direction changes.

• Tower Height: 10.20 meters
• Diameter: 5.10 meters
• Thickness of walls: 1.25 meters at the base - 1.12 meter summit
• Sails 24 meters wide
• Mechanism Two pairs of millstones
  • The large spinning wheel: 2.90 m in diameter.
  • Rouet Little 2 meters in diameter

• Wood used : oak, elm, iroko for the mechanisms. Chestnut for the shingles