mill-building Adriaens

The Company.

Although there was a huge decline in the number of mills in the first half of the nineteenth century, the Netherlands has always been home to a small number of mill-building companies which have preserved the specific craft of millwright. Among them was the family-owned company of Adriaens, situated in Weert. After a long period of prosperity, the company had a hard time from 1920 to 1960, when it was difficult for millwrights to make a living. It was mainly the love of the trade which stopped the then owners from opting for another course.

In the early 1960's, mill-building companies could finally look forward to a better future when mills were protected as listed buildings due to an Act passed by the Dutch government.
Investing in the mill-building business, which had been thought to be without a future for half a century, was now a sound decision again.

Visit www.molendevierwindenstannaland.nl,
www.windstill.nl or www.molensinweert.nl to get a preview of our work in progress.

Since 1964, Adriaens Molenbouw Weert B.V. has been working from its premises at Oude Steeg 1 / C in Weert, the Netherlands (postcode 6002 SG). You will still find the modest farmhouse which was bought in 1964 at this address. The adjoining barns and stables were converted into workshops where the mill-making company was housed for forty years. But as time went by, the workshop and its fittings were unable to keep up with contemporary requirements. They were demolished in 2004 and replaced by new business premises with up-to-date interior fittings and furnishings and new machinery which fully meet modern requirements.

On 18 April 2005 Adriaens Molenbouw Weert B.V. was officially granted a Royal Warrant and may now call itself "Hofleverancier"
(similar to the English Purveyor to H.M. the Queen).
As part of the festivities to celebrate the opening of the new business premises on 13 May 2005, the certificate and the accompanying coat of arms were presented by J.M.L. Niederer, the mayor of Weert.

This was an important milestone in the company's long history.