Duck in the shadow of the Westbroek Mill by Jeroen de Jongh Photography

The Westbroekse Molen is a ground-sailer just outside the village of Oud-Zuilen, located in the Utrecht municipality of Stichtse Vecht. The octagonal mill from 1753 is grinding capable. The mill can be used as a polder mill to drain the Westbroek polder. Its predecessor from 1650 was much closer to the Vecht, but was relocated in 1743 because the horses of passing carriages and barges got restless from the rotating sails. A tall tale has it that even the lord of Slot Zuylen once drove into the Vecht with his carriage and all.

Until 1946, the windmill independently drained the polder; today, it serves as an auxiliary pumping station. After the Second World War, the mill was equipped with a diesel pumping station that did its work in fits and starts. A new electric pumping station was commissioned in 1971. In 1983, the scoop wheel was replaced by an auger with a special drive. In 2003, the interior was restored by the volunteer millers.

The Polder Westbroek Windmill is a ground-sailer, which means that the miller can turn the mill to the wind from the ground, i.e. cruising. Since only the cap with the sails can turn, we call this type of mill a windmill. Polder mills grind water from the polder and ensured dry feet for centuries. From around 1100, the wild peat bogs in the west of the province of Utrecht were reclaimed.

From around 1500, the soil had subsided so much due to subsidence that natural drainage became increasingly difficult. The water had to be raised from the polder to the higher storage basin. The polder mills provided the solution: using a paddle wheel or screw pump, they grinded the water uphill. Without mills, the polders would have flooded again many centuries ago.