Schellinkhout pumping station and the Grote Molen windmill

Schellinkhout Polder

The Schellinkhout polder area was originally a large, marshy peat bog covering 650 hectares. In order to make the area suitable for agriculture in the late Middle Ages, the peat had to be drained. This was done by digging ditches in the peat and draining the water into the former Zuiderzee. However, the drainage led to oxidation and compaction of the peat and a rapid decline in ground level.

Initially, excess rainwater could still drain away naturally into the Zuiderzee at low tide through a pipe closed with a valve. However, this became increasingly difficult due to land subsidence. At the end of the 15th century, there were serious complaints about flooding in Schellinkhout. The solution to this problem was the construction of polder mills.

The Small and Large Windmills

The Schellinkhout polder decided to take this step between 1560 and 1569. The first mill became known as the Kleine Molen (Small Mill) and was located a short distance inland. Not long after, a second mill, the Grote Molen (Large Mill), followed. Both mills were equipped with scoop wheels. The Kleine Molen pumped the water about a metre into a ditch to the Grote Molen. The Grote Molen then pumped it further into a whirlpool. The water from this whirlpool was allowed to flow into the Zuiderzee via a small lock in the sea dike. The paddle wheel of the Grote Molen was replaced by a screw pump in 1861. A year later, the Kleine Molen followed suit.

Schellinkhout pumping station

As early as 1879, the first voices were raised in favor of abandoning wind drainage in favor of a steam pumping station. However, this came to nothing, and it was not until 1900 that a motorized pumping station was built next to the Grote Molen. It was equipped with a petroleum engine that drove a centrifugal pump. The building was designed by architect K. Swagerman from Bovenkarspel.

In 1913, the polder board decided to accept a plan from the well-known engineering firm W.C. and K. de Wit in Amsterdam. This involved installing a new, more powerful engine from an English factory and a new pump (manufactured by INVICIBLE/C/GWYNNES LTD. LONDON). This required more space, so the pumping station was extended with a flat-roofed annex.

The pumping station was now so powerful that the mills were no longer needed. The Small Mill was sold for demolition in 1915. However, the Large Mill remained standing because it served as a residence for the pumping station operator. In 1931, the polder sold the sails, which eventually ended up at the De Hoop corn mill in Oude Niedorp.

During World War II, drainage caused major problems because petroleum products were immediately subject to strict rationing. In order to keep the polder dry, the polder spent 4,300 guilders on fuel in the final months of the war. For example, 595 guilders were paid for 17 litre . After the war, the engine was no longer in good condition because even carbolineum, a wood preservative, had been used as fuel. It was therefore replaced by an electric motor in 1949.

Restoration and monument status

In 1958, the municipality of Schellinkhout took over the mill, which was in poor condition at the time. After years of wrangling over the financing, the restoration of the Grote Molen finally began in 1979. In the meantime, it had come into the hands of the new Westfriesland Water Board. In 1991, the Water Board transferred the mill to its current owner, the Westfriese Molens Foundation.

At the beginning of the 1990s, the end of the pumping station was in sight due to land consolidation. In 1994, the Westfriesland Water Board transferred it to the West Frisian Mills Foundation free of charge. It was placed on the National Monuments List in 1997. Six years later, in 2003, the Westfriesland Water Board took the pumping station back because it wanted to place the control cabinets of the new pumping station in the building. That new pumping station is located in a pit behind the old one. Since then, the pumping station has served as a reserve for the low-lying western part of the polder. This repurposing meant that the volunteer miller of the Grote Molen lost his storage space. This was solved by building a mill barn, modeled on the old barns at the Schermer mills, diagonally behind the mill.

Extra

• Hiking: if you walk the Schellinkhout route of the Westfriesland Hiking Network, you will pass through the beautiful ribbon village of Schellinkhout.
• Cycling: the West Frisian Omringdijk Cycle Route
• The Tour of the West Frisian Omringdijk is held annually.
• In this YouTube videofrom 1997, volunteer miller Coen Rood gives a tour of the mill.