Torenmolen van Gronsveld, Maastricht

Geschiedenis

The Torenmolen van Gronsveld is a tower mill near Gronsveld in the municipally of Maastricht, the Netherlands, which is still in working order. The mill was built in 1623 and is listed as a Rijksmonument, number 28086. It is the most southerly windmill in the Netherlands and the oldest of the province Limburg.HistoryConstruction of the towermill of Gronsveld was started in 1618 by order of Joest Maximilian van Bronckhorst, count of Gronsfelt and was finished in 1623. The cylindrical shaped mill was raised in 1766 with a tapering part which has given it its distinctive shape. The mound around the mill was raised at the same time. The windmill remained property of the Van Bronckhorst family and later, by marriage, the Törring family until it was confiscated by the government in the French-Batavian period and publicly sold in 1805. The buyer was Van Gulpen who sold the mill on to miller Jacobus Jacobs who expanded the milling business with a farm. After his death Catharina Jacobs became the owner.In the 1860s she managed to have the newly planted trees along the nearby state road replaced by Acacias as she feared the trees, once they had fully grown, would block the wind coming towards the mill. The incident got national attention at the time and the typical roadside planting remains today. After Catharinas death the mill became property of her daughter Alphonsine Bemelmans in 1889. Alphonsine sold the mill and farm in 1919 to the woodtrader Dahmen who resold it to the baker Henri Jacobs. In 1924 Joseph Michael Thomma became the leaseholder. By that time the farm was generating most of the income and Thomma bought himself a small electric powered mill so the windmill fell into disrepair.