Molen De David

For centuries, small industrial mills were used by small businesses in the Netherlands; they disappeared without a trace. The small sawmill ‘De David’ in Thesinge powered a band saw and a grinding stone; it was not demolished but put into storage. We want to restore De David and re-erect it at the Groningen Openluchtmuseum Het Hoogeland in Warffum in the condition it was in around 1900, complete with self-balancing mechanism and a lower square housing a band saw and a grinding stone. This small mill was built around 1890 by the Groningen millwrights Christiaan Bremer and Klaas Kremer from Thesinge to experiment with self-tuning. Following the introduction of this successful sail-trimming system on many mills in the north of the Netherlands, this little mill was converted into a sawmill in 1894 and, after the introduction of electricity, it was taken out of service in 1934. Millwright Bremer realised that the little mill was unique and stored it in Adorp. After it had stood on the Verhildersum estate in the 1980s, but was damaged there during a storm, it eventually ended up with Piet Groot in Winsum. The ‘David’ – unrestored – can be seen in Warffum, at its future location.