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Post Mill
An early freestanding windmill form of high medieval northwestern Europe, with the entire mill house mounted on a wooden post rotatable about its cen…
Timeline
- 601–1001Persia and the Eastern Mediterranean · PersiaHorizontal-axis windmills coexisted with animal- and water-powered grinding, providing technical precedent and conceptual inspiration for Europe's later freestanding windmill structures.
- c. 1175–1201East Anglia in England and Flanders · East AngliaThe entire mill house could rotate about a central post to face the wind, used exclusively for grinding grain; windmill place names and mill charter records began appearing in parish and manorial documents, marking the peak of 12th-century windmill technology diffusion.
- 1301–1601Coastal Netherlands and Zeeland · NetherlandsThe tower mill with a fixed tower and only the sail assembly rotating gradually replaced the post mill structure, adapting to larger milling scales and drainage needs; the post mill gradually left the mainstream but survived in the countryside.
Sources
- Wind, Water, Work: Ancient and Medieval Milling Technology — Adam Robert Lucas (2006)
- Encyclopedia of the History of Technology — Ian McNeil (1990)