Mill Het Prinsenhof - Westzaan

Mill Het Prinsenhof was built around 1722 as a hulling mill. In a hulling mill, barley is husked into groats. Until the 20th century, this was an important staple food, especially in porridge and pancakes. For the first 178 years, the mill was used exclusively for hulling barley. In 1899, the mill was used for processing coffee husks. Around the First World War, its function changed to grinding sawdust into wood flour, the raw material for linoleum. This was done until 1954, when the mill returned to its roots; it came into the possession of a large barley husking plant. This company wanted to restore the mill to its former state and set up a husking museum in the barn, but the plan did not materialise.

In 1961, the Zaansche Molen Society bought Het Prinsenhof and thoroughly restored the mill. Now the volunteer miller is still grinding original pearl barley! Het Prinsenhof stands fairly freely in the polder and can be easily seen from the A8 highway.