Beukelaremolen

The Beukelaremolen (also Steentjesmolen or Bussche's mill) is a windmill in the Belgian village of Merkem. It is the only remaining windmill. Previously, seven mills adorned the village.

History[edit | edit source text]

The Beukelaremolen, an open-footed stake mill, dates from 7 January 1777. Until 1923 this mill was located in Poperinge, along the road to Elverdinge. Steentje Molen probably owes its name to the fact that the mill was located along an old Roman road, which can still be seen in certain places and is referred to as Steenstraat. In Elverdinge the street name Steentjemolenstraat still exists.

During the First World War, the miller of Steentje Molen, Jules Gheeraert, was held captive for some time by the British army because they suspected him of giving signs on the German side. This led to his untimely death and the sale of the mill by his widow[1]. In 1923 it was transferred to Merkem and rebuilt on the Rodesteenstraat. The Merkemnaar Modest De Busschere had bought "den koornwindmolen van 't Steentje". He bought the Stone Mill in 1923 for 15,000 old Belgian francs. He had lost his own mill, the Luigem- or Noordeindemolen, due to the destruction in the First World War. The Noordeindemolen had been drained for generations by the De Busschere family.

The mill was founded opposite the place where the Luigem or Noordeindemolen had stood near the hamlet of Luigem and was now named Debusscheremolen or Beukelaremolen. The latter name is derived from the Beukendreef, which led to the Noordeindemolen before the First World War. Because Modest De Busschere bought the Beukelaeremolen, the miller's tradition could remain in the family. The millers were successively (initially Noordeindemolen, later Beukelaremolen) from father to son: Karel De Busschere, Amandus De Busschere, Modest De Busschere and last Hector De Busschere, who died on 22 January 1983. Hector lived with his sister Blanche in the small mill house opposite the mill. That cottage has now been replaced by a larger home.

However, when Hector died in 1983, the mill had not been used for a long time. Hector last milled there in 1958. The Beukelare mill fell into disrepair.

By Royal Decree of 23 April 1974[2] the mill was classified as a monument. The municipality of Merkem bought the mill in 1975. It was finally, after years of decay, restored. In 1983-1984 the mill received a thorough restoration by the mill builders Peel from Gistel. The entire, milling restoration cost 8,767,697 Belgian francs; the intervention of the state amounted to 3,773,177 francs; that of the province 1,294,461 francs. [3] Also during the summer of 2006, the mill underwent a complete refurbishment.

Thanks to the collaboration with VZW De Boot, the restored mill was running again, until April 29, 2011, when a thunderstorm blew it over. [4]

Exactly 5 years after the collapse of the mill, the first visitors were able to visit the re-erected mill. The municipality worked together with mill builder Wieme for the reconstruction. He tried to reuse as many pieces of the old mill as possible.

Architecture[edit | edit source text]

The Beukelare mill rests on four masonry blocks, the tars. These tars are two by two the same height. The two heavy horizontal beams resting on three tar blocks on either side are called cross plates. The cross plates of the Beukelaremolen are loose on the tars.

The stake is the vertical oak pole with a length of almost 8 meters, which carries the entire mill. The mill is not fixed on the ground because otherwise it cannot run. With the help of the wheelbarrow reel, the mill can be moved manually. Only through wind energy is it possible to make the mill work. With a kind of lasso, the miller throws cloths on the blades. In stormy weather, the canvases are removed because otherwise the Beukelaremolen would run faster than necessary. The blades rotate counterclockwise on an axis. The blades are one meter from the ground, so that animals are not hurt by the rotating blades. A mill in full flight must also be able to be slowed down because otherwise the mill would run on its own at any time. A braking system has also been incorporated at the Beukelaremolen.

In the past, the miller (De Busschere family) lived at his mill so that he could quickly get back to work in the morning. The farmers brought the grain to the miller. They lifted bags of 50 to 7 5 kg on their backs to the stone attic.

When grinding the grain, the trick is to run exactly the desired amount of grain between the stones, taking into account the rotational speed of the stones and the nature and dryness of the grain. The grain falls from the grain bin through the central opening of the upper millstone. The grains are crushed between the lying and running millstone into small pancakes or as animal feed for the horses. The flour ends up in the flour chute along the outside of the millstones. A sweeper who rotates with the millstones sweeps the flour through a funnel along which it ends up in the flour bin. From this flour tray, which weighs 50 kg, the bags are filled.

The Beukelaremolen also uses the "blade language": the miller uses the blades of the mill to inform farmers. When the blades are on holiday mode, the farmer knows that he is not allowed to deliver anything because the miller is on holiday.

The Beukelaremolen contains many types of wood, such as 15 to 20m³ of oak. Hornbeam was used for the combs and oregon was used for the outside.

Footnotes

↑ GHEERAERT, Johan, Steentje Molen, Poperinge, 2016, ISBN 978 90 825 8910 8

↑ Beukelaremolen - Fiche Immovable Heritage

↑ Molenecho's - Belgian Mill File

↑ Focus-wtv news item

SOURCE: Beukelaremolen - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Joris Broché