Kockengense Windmill working

The Kockengense Molen is a seesaw mill from 1653 that stands beautifully between the meadows near the village of Kockengen. That village arose when people started to reclaim the enormous peat swamp that once lay here. Between 10th and 13th century the swamp was dehydrated. Thus the land was drained and used for agriculture. But it was precisely because of the drainage that the peat started to settle, and the land continued to sink. Hence the water could no longer flow out of the ditches, because the land was now lower than the rivers.
The Kockengense Molen is one of the of the mills that had to grind away the water from the low-laying polders.
This seesaw mill has a striking construction, namely a pyramid-shaped lower tower with a wooden tube. That tube carries a square upper housing that can be turned to the wind. This also includes the upper shaft with the blades, which can therefore rotate in all directions. At the Kockengense Molen, the long spindle that runs down through the tube drives an iron paddle wheel. It is hidden in a wooden cabinet, which is why we call it a closed paddle wheel. This gave the advantage, among other things, that the paddle wheel froze less quickly in winter.
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