Water In. 1100 Roe Mill, Osdorp, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Pfizer drew me out to just about the most remote suburbs of western Amsterdam near the airport, to the emergency location of the health services of the city made necessary by the large number of those expected to be vaccinated against Covid-19. So I thought I'd take a look around in Osdorp and its adjoining polders before the Jab.
The main photo shows the wetness of the entire area; much of which is now a nature reserve. Today it's drained by electrical pumps, of course. But in 1674 dry feet here depended on wind energy, and one of the windmills that served as a pumping station for some of the polders between Halfweg (from Amsterdam to Haarlem) was this mill called 1100 Roe Mill or latterly the Ookmeermolen. The first name recalls the distance of the mill from Amsterdam's Haarlem Gate (=about 4 km.). When the city expanded in 1951, the mill lost its function and was carefully deconstructed and rebuilt at Osdorp in 1965. Today instead of pumping water out ultimately to Het IJ it is used to keep the sports fields - you can just see them in the distance in the inset - pleasantly moist, pumping water in.
Water In. 1100 Roe Mill, Osdorp, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Pfizer drew me out to just about the most remote suburbs of western Amsterdam near the airport, to the emergency location of the health services of the city made necessary by the large number of those expected to be vaccinated against Covid-19. So I thought I'd take a look around in Osdorp and its adjoining polders before the Jab.
The main photo shows the wetness of the entire area; much of which is now a nature reserve. Today it's drained by electrical pumps, of course. But in 1674 dry feet here depended on wind energy, and one of the windmills that served as a pumping station for some of the polders between Halfweg (from Amsterdam to Haarlem) was this mill called 1100 Roe Mill or latterly the Ookmeermolen. The first name recalls the distance of the mill from Amsterdam's Haarlem Gate (=about 4 km.). When the city expanded in 1951, the mill lost its function and was carefully deconstructed and rebuilt at Osdorp in 1965. Today instead of pumping water out ultimately to Het IJ it is used to keep the sports fields - you can just see them in the distance in the inset - pleasantly moist, pumping water in.