Bech's Mill

Facts

Denmark's oldest windmill

By Lise Andersen, Museumsinspektør, mag.art. (17 stories)

The characteristic post mill at Møllebakken 13 in Svaneke was built in 1629, making Bech's Mill the oldest preserved windmill in Denmark. In the 18th century, the mill was flanked by two other post mills on the northern outskirts of Svaneke. The mill is named after Hans Bentzen Bech, who took it over in 1814. It originally stood directly on the rock, but was moved when the road was redirected in 1866. That was when it was given a wooden base to stand on. The mill house was expanded and gained some very unusual technical devices. Room was made for four grinders in the otherwise technically primitive mill. Bech's Mill still has sails made of pieces of wood called splits". "

Partly a public place

Selected entry

Milling paradise island in the sun

Story written by Lise Andersen

Time / Periode 1629

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Bornholm is a milling paradise" – according to mill builder John Jensen (1949-2008). Even though many mills have disappeared from the sunny island in the Baltic Sea, Bornholm still has three preserved watermills, three windmills and twelve Dutch windmills. The rest of Denmark was only permitted to build new mills by royal decree until 1852. But milling has always been free on Bornholm. Just about every type of mill has been built on Bornholm at some point. A preservation plan from the 1950s has ensured that Bornholm's mills are generally better preserved than those in the rest of the country. Bech's Mill is therefore in the company of Denmark's largest Dutch windmill in Gudhjem and Denmark's last private rolling mill in Åkirkeby. "