De Bente is a

smock mill The smock mill is a type of windmill that consists of a sloping, horizontally weatherboarded, thatched, or shingled tower, usually with six or eight sides. It is topped with a roof or cap that rotates to bring the sails into the wind. This t ...

Dalen Dalen (Dutch Low Saxon: ''Daoln'') is a village and a former municipality in the northeastern Netherlands, in the province of Drenthe. Since 1998, Dalen has been part of the municipality of Coevorden. The village was first mentioned in the 12th ...

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. It was built in 1814. The mill has been restored to full working order. It is listed as a

Rijksmonument A (, ) is a national heritage site of the Netherlands, listed by the agency Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed (RCE) acting for the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. At the end of February 2015, the Netherlands had 61,822 l ...

, number 44563

History

De Bente was built in 1814. It replaced a mill that had been burnt down on 12 December 1813, through the actions of

Cossacks The Cossacks are a predominantly East Slavic languages, East Slavic Eastern Christian people originating in the Pontic–Caspian steppe of eastern Ukraine and southern Russia. Cossacks played an important role in defending the southern borde ...

attacking the French garrison in Coevorden. This was a

post mill The post mill is the earliest type of European windmill. Its defining feature is that the whole body of the mill that houses the machinery is mounted on a single central vertical post. The vertical post is supported by four quarter bars. These ar ...

, the earliest type of European

windmill A windmill is a machine operated by the force of wind acting on vanes or sails to mill grain (gristmills), pump water, generate electricity, or drive other machinery. Windmills were used throughout the high medieval and early modern period ...

. (enter 2705 in box marked DB nr:, then click on underlined link) De Bente worked until 1944 when two sails were lost. The other pair of sails were lost in 1957. The mill was later demolished, leaving the base which was incorporated into a modern mill. It was restored in 1977 by

millwright A millwright is a craftsman or skilled tradesman who installs, dismantles, maintains, repairs, reassembles, and moves machinery in factories, power plants, and construction sites. The term ''millwright'' (also known as ''industrial mechanic'') ...

J D Medendorp of

Zuidlaren Zuidlaren ( Noordenvelds: ''Zuudlaoren'') is a village in the province of Drenthe in the Northern Netherlands. Zuidlaren has just over 10,000 inhabitants and is situated on natural heightened land which is called the Hondsrug. The village is part ...

.(Click on "Geschiedenis" to view) A new smock was built on the existing base. Machinery from a demolished windmill at

Großheide Großheide (East Frisian: Grootheid) is a village and a municipality in the Aurich (district), district of Aurich, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated approximately 10 km east of Norden, Lower Saxony, Norden, and 15 km northwest of ...

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony is a States of Germany, German state (') in Northern Germany, northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ' of the Germany, Federal Re ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

was incorporated. In 1994, miller Hans Petit rented the mill, and had it restored to working order. In 2001, a third pair of millstones was installed. The mill produces about three tonnes of

flour Flour is a powder made by Mill (grinding), grinding raw grains, List of root vegetables, roots, beans, Nut (fruit), nuts, or seeds. Flours are used to make many different foods. Cereal flour, particularly wheat flour, is the main ingredie ...

a week by windpower.

Description

De Bente is what the Dutch describe as an "achtkante stellingmolen", an eight-sided smock mill with a stage. The stage is above ground level. (Click on "Technische gegevens" to view) The mill has a three-storey smock on a two-storey base. The smock and cap are

thatch Thatching is the craft of building a roof with dry vegetation such as straw, Phragmites, water reed, Cyperaceae, sedge (''Cladium mariscus''), Juncus, rushes, Calluna, heather, or palm branches, layering the vegetation so as to shed water away fr ...

ed. (Click on "Algemeen" to view) The Common sails have a span of . They are carried on a cast-iron ''windshaft'' dating from 1866, which originally came from a windmill at Koekange and has been shortened. It was cast by the millwrights Enthoven of

The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

. The wooden clasp arm ''Brake wheel'' has 60 cogs. It drives the ''wallower'' at the top of the ''upright shaft''. The ''wallower'' has 33 cogs. At the bottom of the ''upright shaft'', the ''great spur wheel'' with 115 cogs drives two lantern pinion ''stone nuts'', each with 33 staves. There are two pairs of

millstone Millstones or mill stones are stones used in gristmills, used for triturating, crushing or, more specifically, grinding wheat or other grains. They are sometimes referred to as grindstones or grinding stones. Millstones come in pairs: a s ...

s which are diameter. One pair are of Cullen stones, the other pair have a Cullen runner stone on a French Burr bedstone. A third pair of stones was added in 2001.

Millers

*Hans Petit (since 1994) Reference for above:-

Public access

De Bente is open on Wednesdays and Thursdays from 13:00 to 17:00, on Saturdays from 10:00 to 17:00 and at other times by appointment.(Click on "Informatie" to view)

References

External links

De Bente website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bente, Dalen Windmills in Drenthe Smock mills in the Netherlands Windmills completed in 1814 Rijksmonuments in Drenthe Octagonal buildings in the Netherlands De Bente, Dalen