Den Steenen Molen (Boechout)

Den Steenen Molen, in the Belgian municipality of Boechout, is a working smock mill.
The mill was built in 1782, despite protest, by Jan Frans Dielens where it served as an oil and grain mill. The mill served as a private mill and the Palms family was unhappy about that, because their mill (the Berderenmolen) was owned by Sint-Baafskapittel. However, Jan Frans Dielens was a lawyer for the Sovereign Council of Brabant and partly because of this protesting was of no use. The oil mill was demolished in 1896 and a diesel engine was added in 1915. The mill suffered damage during the First World War and during the Second World War the mill was hit by a V1 bomb after which the mill had to be restored. The mill has been registered as a heritage since 1943 and in 1991 the mill was registered as a village view. In 1964, maintenance was carried out on the mill under the supervision of the Caers company. During a storm in 1984, a wing fell off and in 1998 the Van den Brande family had the mill completely restored. Since 2004, the mill has been fully operational again. In 2006, 2007 and 2012, some work was also carried out, including raising the block on which the king (standing axle) rests, resulting in the mill turning more smoothly, the pin in the head was fixed, the braces were placed higher, all the seam slats were replaced after they had been affected by wood rot, the common furniture beetle was exterminated, the mill axle was moved forward again, joints were replaced and the mill was whitewashed again. In 2020, both 18-metre-long whips were replaced as well as all the planks of the gantry. Source: nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Den_Steenen_Molen

The Boechout mill has been manned since 2003 by a team of volunteer millers. The number of millers has grown to about 10 over the years. The mill is open to the public every Sunday from 1 pm to 5 pm. If there is enough wind, there is also grinding.