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Red cloth sails ready to catch the
breeze blowing round 176 metre high Mont Cassel. Casteel
Meulen (Flemish dialect words) is a post mill - the whole
body of the mill turns to face the wind.
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Mill on the mountain
The old 18th century windmill works on top of Mont Cassel,
the nearest Flanders has to a mountain. It was moved here in
1947, to replace one that blazed like a torch in 1911. Once
Cassel had over 20 windmills, either processing local crops
or draining the surrounding marshes. Some milled flour from
local wheat or rye; others crushed oil seeds to make linseed
oil, used for lamps and lubrication - and by Flanders'
famous oil painters. This mill does both - the main body
contains millstones, from which each visitor takes away a
bag of its flour. Underneath, the base of the mill has been
adapted so you can also see linseed oil being pressed by
traditional tilt-hammer techniques.
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1.
Inside the mill, the gears
from the sails drive the millstones
2.
Oil press: oilseeds are crushed by primitive but effective
stampers; the linseed oil is drained off.
3.
You can buy wholemeal flour
(la farine complète), or white flour - with
bran sieved out. The mill also demonstrates making different
types of bread.
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