Editing Post mill

{{Short description|Earliest type of European windmill}}
{{About|windmills|the town in West Virginia|Post Mill, West Virginia|the eschatological position|Postmillennialism}}
[[File:Brill windmill April 2017.jpg|thumbnail|[[Brill, Buckinghamshire#Brill windmill|Brill windmill]], a 17th-century post mill in [[Buckinghamshire]]]]
The '''post mill''' is the earliest type of European [[windmill]]. Its defining feature is that the whole body of the mill that houses the machinery is mounted on a single central vertical post. The vertical post is supported by four quarter bars. These are struts that steady the central post.

The body of the windmill can be turned around the central post to bring the sails into the wind. All post mills have an arm projecting from them on the side opposite the sails and reaching down to near ground level. With some, as at [[:File:Saxtead Green Post Mill - geograph.org.uk - 514428.jpg|Saxtead Green]], the arm carries a [[windmill fantail|fantail]] to turn the mill automatically. With the others the arm serves to rotate the mill into the wind by hand. 

The earliest post mills in England are thought to have been built in the 12th century. [[Outwood Windmill|The earliest working post mill in England]] still used today is to be found at [[Outwood, Surrey]].  It was built in 1665. The earliest remaining example of a non-operational mill can be found in [[Great Gransden]] in [[Cambridgeshire]], built in 1612.<ref name="Smith">Windmills in Huntingdon and Peterborough. p. 3.</ref> <!-- The date 1614 can still be seen carved into a minor beam in the spout of the mill<ref name=Suiag>[http://www.hants.gov.uk/suiag/foc62.html Southampton University Industrial Archaeology Group]</ref> This link is dead, and the date cannot be verified at the moment.-->
Their design and usage peaked in the 18th and 19th centuries and then declined after the introduction of high-speed steam-driven milling machinery.<ref name="Mill">[http://www.ruralhistory.org/interface/public/countryside/landbuild/landbuild_mills.html "mills"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061229092912/http://www.ruralhistory.org/interface/public/countryside/landbuild/landbuild_mills.html |date=2006-12-29 }}, Rural History</ref> Many still exist today, primarily in [[Northern Europe]] and [[Great Britain]]. The term ''peg mill'' or ''peg and post mill'' (in which the "post" was the tailpole used to turn the mill into the wind) was used in north-west England, and ''stob mill'' in north-east England, to describe mills of this type.

Post mills dominated the scene in Europe until the 19th century when [[tower mill]]s began to replace them.<ref>Hills, Power from wind: a history of windmill technology, (1996), 65</ref> The advantage of the tower mill over the earlier post mill is that it is not necessary to turn the whole mill ("body", "buck") with all its machinery into the wind; this allows more space for the machinery as well as for storage.

==Types of post mill==
There are many variations amongst post mills.

===Sunk post mill===
The earliest post mills were quite small, and this led to problems with stability as they were liable to blow down in strong winds. A solution was found by burying the bottom of the [[trestle (mill)|trestle]] in a mound of earth.<ref name=Jarv>Stability in Windmills</ref> The last sunk post mills in England were at [[Warton, Fylde|Warton]], [[List of windmills in Lancashire|Lancashire]],<ref>[http://amounderness.co.uk/warton_windmill_1914.html "Extract from a newspaper articlte article on windmills, in the "Preston Guardian" by Mr. T. Harrison Myers, 1914" at amounderness.co.uk/warton]</ref> and [[Essington]], [[List of windmills in Staffordshire|Staffordshire]].

===Open trestle post mill===
As mills were made bigger, it was found that the trestle did not need to be buried. Thus the open trestle post mills were built. The oldest surviving is at [[Great Gransden]], Cambridgeshire. Others exist in the UK at [[Bourn]], Cambridgeshire; [[Great Chishill]], Cambridgeshire; [[Nutley Windmill|Nutley]], Sussex and [[Chillenden Windmill|Chillenden]], Kent. Open trestle post mills are also found in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and in [[New England]], USA.
<gallery>
Image:Chillenden post mill - geograph.org.uk - 677916.jpg|Chillenden post mill, built in 1868.
Image:Chillenden mill.jpg|Chillenden open trestle post mill (another view).
</gallery>

===Post mill with roundhouse===
The space around the trestle could be used for storage, but was open to the weather. Mill owners started to build [[roundhouse (windmill)|roundhouses]] around the trestles, and later mills were built with a roundhouse from new. This had the dual advantage of creating a covered storage area and protecting the trestle from bad weather. In [[Suffolk]], [[millwright]]s would build post mills mounted on tall, two or three storey roundhouses, as at [[Saxtead Green Windmill|Saxtead Green]].
<gallery>
Image:Friston Post Mill - geograph.org.uk - 1970480.jpg|Friston Post Mill, near Friston, Suffolk.
File:Aurora standerdmolen Baexem. Limburg 1845 Limburgse molendag 2019.jpg|Aurora Post Mill (1845) [[Baexem]], Netherlands 
Image:Garboldisham Post Mill - External View - geograph.org.uk - 2248810.jpg|Garboldisham Post Mill; the mill is complete inside, externally only missing the sails.
Image:Oldland Mill.jpg|Post mill with roundhouse.
Image:Saxtead Green Post Mill - geograph.org.uk - 514428.jpg|Saxtead Green Post Mill roundhouse is partially obscured by a hedgerow.
</gallery>

====Midlands post mill====
In the Midlands and North West of England, the top of the roundhouse had a curb, and rollers affixed to the mill body enabled the roundhouse to bear some of the weight of the mill. Examples of Midlands post mills extant include Danzey Green mill, (preserved at [[Avoncroft Museum of Historic Buildings]]) and the mill at [[Wrawby Windmill|Wrawby]], Lincolnshire.

====Alternative ways to protect the trestle====
In eastern Europe, instead of a roundhouse an "apron" was fitted to the bottom of the body of the mill, enclosing the trestle and thereby affording protection from the weather.

<gallery>
Image:14th century post mill.jpg|Medieval illustration of a sunk post mill.
Image:Madingley Windmill.jpg|Midlands post mill.
Image:Post_mill_-_Bockwindmühle_-_1638_-_open_air_museum_Cloppenburg_-_Germany.jpg|Post mill, rebuilt in the open-air museum at Cloppenburg, Germany.
Image:Svaneke post mill.jpg|Wooden post mill in Svaneke, Denmark.
Image:Wrawby post mill - four sails again - geograph.org.uk - 962858.jpg|Wrawby post mill – restored to have four sails.
File:Bierzgłowo wiatrak.jpg|A [[list of windmills in Poland|Polish post mill]].
</gallery>

===Hollow Post mill===
<!--please do not alter title to Hollow post mill, it is the Hollow Post which distinguishes these mills from Post mills-->
Some post mills are hollow post mills. In these mills the main post is bored to take a driveshaft, similar to an Upright Shaft in a [[smock mill|smock]] or [[tower mill]]. This enables the mill to drive machinery in the base or roundhouse. Hollow post mills were not common in the United Kingdom. In the Netherlands, they are called ''[[:nl:Wipmolen|Wipmolen]]'' and were mostly used for drainage. In France, the ''[[:fr:Moulin cavier|Moulin Cavier]]'' was a type of hollow post mill used for corn milling.

<gallery>
Image:Thorpeness windmill.jpg|Hollow post [[Thorpeness Windmill]].
Image:Groot-Ammers Graaflandse Molen foto 2.jpg|Wipmolen
Image:Moulin des Aigremonts, Bléré, 37, juin 2008, face.jpg|Moulin Cavier.
</gallery>

===Composite mill===

A few mills looked like post mills, but were not post mills. These composite mills often had a post mill body mounted on a short tower resembling a roundhouse, as at [[Banham, Norfolk|Banham]]<ref name=Norf>[http://www.norfolkmills.co.uk/Windmills/banham-composite-mill.html Norfolk Mills] Banham composite mill</ref> and [[Thornham, Norfolk|Thornham]]<ref name=Norf2>[http://www.norfolkmills.co.uk/Windmills/thornham-composite-mill.html Norfolk Mills] Thornham composite mill</ref> in Norfolk. Composite mills lack the central post on which the body of the post mill is mounted and turns upon to enable the mill to face the wind.

===Paltrok mill===

In the [[Netherlands]] and [[Germany]], a variety of mill called the paltrok (Low German spelling ''Paltrock'', from High German ''Pfalzrock'' (''palisade skirt''); the shape of the millhouse resembles that kind of garment) was built. Though similar in name and appearance, Dutch and German paltrok mills differ in historical and technical regard.

The Dutch [[:nl:Paltrokmolen|paltrok mill]] was invented around 1600 and specifically designed for sawing wood. Several hundred<ref name="DHM">{{cite web | url=http://www.molens.nl/site/dbase/molen.php?pagina=geschiedenis&mid=670&toonoverzicht=1 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305013554/http://www.molens.nl/site/dbase/molen.php?pagina=geschiedenis&mid=670&toonoverzicht=1 | url-status=dead | archive-date=March 5, 2016 | title=De Gekroonde Poelenburg te Zaandam / Zaanse Schans | publisher=De Hollandse Molen | access-date=October 28, 2012 | language=nl }}</ref> have existed of this type of windmill; however, only five paltrok mills remain in the [[Netherlands]], at [[Zaanse Schans]], [[Haarlem]], [[Zaandam]], [[Amsterdam]] and at the [[Netherlands Open Air Museum]], [[Arnhem]]. Dutch paltrok mills are, like post windmills, supported on a central wooden post around which the entire millhouse rotates. The central post, however, is short and, to provide stability, a rim bearing is added on a brick base, on which the millhouse rotates with numerous rollers. Side extensions protect the sawing floor and workmen from the weather.<ref name="stokhuyzen">{{cite book | title=Molens, de nieuwe Stokhuyzen | publisher=Waanders Uitgevers | author=De Hollandsche Molen | year=2007 | location=Zwolle | pages=55–60 | isbn=9789040087851}}</ref>

German [[:de:Paltrockwindmühle|paltrok mills]] were commonly converted from post mills where the post and trestle were replaced by a wooden or iron rim bearing, set into the ground or on a brick base. The millhouse was enlarged and supported on this rim by numerous rollers or small wheels. These mills are technically composite mills although the tower is very short and of large diameter. This type of mill provided more internal space than a post mill and was cheaper than the alternative of erecting a [[smock mill]].<ref name="paltrock">{{cite web | url=http://www.deutsche-muehlen.de/muehlenkunde/paltrock.htm | title=Paltrockwindmühlen in Deutschland | publisher=Rüdiger Hagen | access-date=August 20, 2012 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150112023953/http://www.deutsche-muehlen.de/muehlenkunde/paltrock.htm | archive-date=January 12, 2015 }}</ref>

<gallery>
File:Paltrok openluchtmuseum.jpg|Paltrok mill [[Mijn Genoegen, Arnhem|Mijn Genoegen]] in the [[Netherlands Open Air Museum]]
File:Schönewalde Mühle.jpg|Paltrock mill at Schönewalde in [[Elbe-Elster]], Brandenburg, Germany
</gallery>

== Citations ==
{{Reflist}}

== General sources==
* {{cite book | first = Arthur C| last = Smith| year = 1977| title = Windmills in Huntingdon and Peterborough, a contemporary survey| publisher = Stevenage Museum| location = Stevenage| isbn = 0-9504239-4-7}}
* {{cite book | first = P S| last = Jarvis| year = 1982| title = Stability in Windmills| publisher = [[The International Molinological Society|TIMS]]| location = Reading}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Post mills}}
* [http://www.sussexmillsgroup.org.uk/postmill.htm Sussex Mills Group] information on Post mills

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Post Mill}}
[[Category:Post mills| ]]
[[Category:Windmills]]