The Defrenne windmill was built in 1830 and is located in Grand-Leez in the municipality of Gembloux in the province of Namur (Belgium).
The windmill and its mechanism were listed as a monument on 17 October 1962 and have been on the Walloon Region's list of exceptional heritage sites since 2016.
Location
The Defrenne windmill is located in Grand-Leez, rue du Moulin à Ventno 36. It is built at an altitude of 170 m.
History
The mill was built in 1830 (some sources say 1840) for Charles Sevrin and his wife Julienne Heurion, both natives of Grand-Leez. In 1870, Charles Defrenne and his wife Anne-Joseph Hemptinne acquired the building. In 1900, after the mill burnt down, the municipality of Grand-Leez helped the owner (the widow Defrenne née Conart) to rebuild it, and the blades were replaced three years later by blades from the Kempen region. Between 1984 and 1991, the building was restored thanks to a very large contribution from the public authorities. The Defrenne family still own the building today.
Description
This circular windmill with a decreasing circumference, 12 m in diameter at the base, is built of whitewashed brick, has a number of rectangular openings and a rounded roof. A pulley stands at the rear of the building. A pair of millstones with a diameter of 1.6 m and a weight of 2,636 kg are still in operation. The blades have a wingspan of around 25 m.
Source: Wikipedia
Photo: ©José Calatayud
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