Lembeke's Wester Mill
The Wester Mill in Lembeke is a post mill on an open trestle. This means the beams that support the mill and keep it upright are not covered. It was built in 1785. It is on the corner of the Wester Mill Road and the Windgatstraat ("wind" is wind and a "gat" is a hole or gap).
On this
very spot stood a post mill as early as 1450. The mill we have here now
was built in 1785. About 1845 Francis De Busscher became the owner.
His heirs kept the mill till 1933 when it was sold to Jozef Vervynckt.
He was the miller until 1963 but already in 1945 Count d'Alcantara de
Saint-Gilles Gonzales had acquired the mill.
In 1973 Lembeke town became the new owner of the mill. In that same year the mill was put on the list of protected monuments. In 1978 P.V.B.A. Cottenier from Aalbeke began its restauration. (P.V.B.A. means "personal company with limited liability".) It would take them until well into 1980 to complete the job.
The Wester Mill has a saddleback roof covered with oak slates. There are two pairs of French millstones. The wings are made of steel. The wingspan is 23 meters (almost 76 feet or a little more than 25 yards).
The cross (at the end of the windshaft) was made by the "Kempische IJzergieterij en Smederij Van Aerschot" established at Herentals. (The Kempen—Campine in French—is a region of Flanders east of Antwerp; an "ijzergieterij" is an iron foundry and a "smederij" is a forge or smithy. Aerschot is a town but Aerschot or Van Aerschot is also a family name. So this is the Iron Foundry and Forge of Aerschot or belonging to the Aerschot or Van Aerschot family.)
Miller Eric Caeckaert puts the mill through its paces on many a Sunday afternoon especially in the Summer months. He comes from a well known millers' family that used to operate a mill in Kleit not too far from Cuelenaere's Mill. Unfortunately what remained of the body of that mill had to be demolished in 2002.
More pictures of the Wester Mill
Our text on the windmills of our Meetjesland
Our list of the windmills of our Meetjesland
Our text on Lembeke
Most recent update: 2008-07-20 13:51:05 +0200
