Windmills of Schiedam

Schiedam, next to Rotterdam, has the tallest traditional windmills in the world. They stand along the old town walls and canals, and they owe their height to the town that grew up around them.

Mills built for jenever

From the 17th to the 19th century Schiedam was the centre of Dutch jenever, a juniper spirit and the ancestor of gin. Hundreds of distilleries needed huge amounts of ground malt, and the town’s mills supplied it. As the warehouses and distilleries around them grew taller, the mills had to grow too, so that their sails could still catch the wind above the rooftops.

De Noord and its neighbours

Eight windmills still stand in Schiedam. De Noord, built in 1803, is the tallest traditional windmill in the world, with a roof height of 33.3 metres and a sail span of 26.6 metres. Other survivors include the Babbersmolen (1710), De Drie Koornbloemen (1770), De Vrijheid (1785) and De Walvisch (1794). Their high stages, running around the body of each mill, let the miller reach the sails and turn the cap.

Visiting tips

• Follow the canal ring on foot: most of the mills can be seen in a relaxed walk of one to two hours.
• De Vrijheid is a working mill that can often be visited when it is open.
• Combine the walk with the town’s jenever museum to understand why the mills were built.

Key facts