About

The Kockengen Windmill is a functioning mill dating back to 1653. Back in the day, people were reliant on wind and windmills to drain land. This was particularly the case for polders: low-lying land surrounded by dykes. Polders are a typical feature of Dutch landscape. The polder of Kockengen was created after intense peat-harvesting in the area, which lowered the land due to oxidisation and excavation and required water regulation. The Kockengen Windmill was used to manage this. Nowadays, the windmill is used as a support for the electric pump which was installed in the 1960s. Weather permitting, the millers still use this centuries-old machine to pump water. These days, we work in a small team of millers, and we maintain and turn the mill in our spare time. Please note that this mill is all about moving water, we cannot grind flour with it!