Stouby Mill

Facts

Denmark's oldest post mill

By Birgit Wilster Hansen (3 stories)

Stouby Mill is a post mill that stands high on Væggerløse Hill on southern Falster. The post mill is the oldest type of windmill in Northern Europe. It was used in Denmark from about 1250. Stouby Mill is the only preserved post mill with more than one grinder. The sails turn clockwise, which is typical for this area of Lolland and Falster. Stouby Mill was presumably built as a mill on an embankment in Nykøbing Falster and is made of wood that was felled in about 1760. In about 1790, the post mill was moved to its current hilltop.

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House turns mill types upside down

Story written by Birgit Wilster Hansen

Time / Periode 1790

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Stouby Mill was probably Denmark's youngest but also largest post mill. The name comes from the thick vertical post that supports the whole mill. The post rests on a turning base on top of a foundation of fieldstone. The entire mill house turns around the post with the help of a tailpole and carriage on a track. Post mills are therefore not normally very large. The house turns so the sails are angled to face the wind direction most effectively. Inside, Stouby Mill is unusually lucky to have two grinders for grain and an oat hulling machine run by a star wheel. This technique is known from later Dutch windmills. They were usually built of brick and only the top with the sails turned to follow the wind.