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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The Hofland windmill, located in Houtkirk in the Hauts-de-France, is a flour mill dating mainly from the second half of the eighteenth century. This monument, also known as the Accou Mill, is of a pivot type and built in wood, distributed on two floors with two pairs of grinding wheels. Its mechanism, notably the hedgehog, bears the inscription door my gemaekt / Es. Nevejan I'voor / Franciscus Blanckaert and the date of 1782 attesting its origin.

The mill underwent a major renovation between 1890 and 1891 by the carpenter Désiré Demeerseman, whose initials appear on certain elements such as the crusher and a cross of the base. This monument, inscribed in the inventory of Historic Monuments by order of 24 October 1977, illustrates the traditional architecture of the windmills of the region. Its present state and location (41 Chemin du Moulin) make it a rare testimony of this rural industrial heritage.

The Hofland mill, with its period mechanisms and its preserved structure, reflects the importance of mills in the local economy of the 18th and 19th centuries. These buildings were used not only for flour production but also as gathering points for agricultural communities. Their operation depended on specialized craft skills, such as those of mill carpenters, which were essential for their maintenance and modernization.

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