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Windmills in History
The Vertical Windmill
In the vertical windmill, the sails rotate in a vertical plane at right angles to the ground. The wind around here constantly changes the direction it blows from and therefore the windmill sails must be turned so that they face the wind. This problem was solved in two ways - the post mill and the tower/smock mill. It is not certain which is the older but most authorities think it is the post mill.
  • The post mill, in this mill all the machinery is mounted in a wooden house, which is perched on top of a wooden post. From the back of the house a long tail pole leads down to the ground. The ladder for reaching the mill is also at the back. The whole mill is turned on the pivot post to face the wind.
  • The tower and smock mills, in these mills the main body of the mill is fixed to the ground and only the cap or top which carries the main shaft, sails and roof is turned to face the wind. The body of the mill is made of stone or brick in the case of the tower mill or of timber framing covered with thatch or weatherboarding in the smock mill. These mills when the body was made of stone or brick were much more economical in the use of valuable timber.
  • The oldest stone built tower mill is thought be have been built near Le Havre in France in 1265, it still stands and has been restored but not as it was at the beginning.

Origin of the Vertical Windmill
The exact origin of the vertical windmill remains unknown. It appears that this type of windmill first appeared around the country of Flanders or the Normandy coast of France sometime around 1150 AD. Old legal documents show that windmills became a normal part of life in this area from 1170 onwards. In less than 100 years, they became very common and many were built in England, France and other nearby countries. The map shows the earliest mention of windmills in documents in the various places with the first one known mentioned for Ireland being in New Ross in 1305.
Windmills must have existed before they were in official deeds. This is interesting because the people who invaded Ireland around 1170 came from Normandy where the windmill had just been introduced. When they came here, the windmill was the very latest thing and it is very probable that they brought this technology with them. If this is the case then some of the old windmill stone towers with vertical walls still standing around Ireland could date from a very early age.
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