Mill House and Paper Mill

The only building in the park that has the status of a national monument is the mill house. The mill house dates back to 1450. The house was sold by the Drost in 1810 and became the property of the municipality in 1960. Until 1860, a watermill was attached to this mill house, its wheel turning in the “molenbeek.” It was a grain mill. The mill was fed by a large mill pond and was an overshot mill. This means that the water fell onto the mill wheel from above. The mill was known as the front mill. The rear mill was located near the ponds at the back of Commanderieplein. Both mills were part of the castle complex that once stood on this site. The mill house is the only building remaining from this estate. Both mills were compulsory mills. Tenants of the castle were forced to have their rye ground at these mills. Naturally, they had to pay more for this than they would have at the free mill in town. The farmer who arrived at the mill first in the morning was also the first to be served. “First come, first milled.”

Paper Mill

The small building is a scaled-down version of the watermill that once stood here. Today, it demonstrates how paper was made two hundred years ago. Back then, paper was made from rags using a beater driven by water power. This took place in Twente, in the Het Springendal nature reserve. The Drost Van Heiden-Hompesch, who lived here at the former Commanderie Ootmarsum, owned five paper mills in this area.

Waterwheel

The waterwheel is an undershot wheel. The wheel has blades and is set in motion by the flow of the water. This clean energy was used to power the hammer box, which pounded the rags into pulp. In a scoop box, the papermaker scooped up the pulp using a scoop frame, and this sheet of pulp was laid onto a felt mat, pressed, and dried. We can no longer imagine a world without paper.