Sint-Annaland, Stavenisse, Scherpenisse

That there are so many mills on Tholen is no coincidence, but the result of a clever combination of landscape, economy and necessity. The island was completely dependent on mills for centuries to keep life turning. Just like the mills themselves!

Tholen was traditionally a distinctly agricultural island. Farmers grew large quantities of grain (wheat, barley, rye), but without modern machines that grain had to be milled somewhere. That is where the grain mills came into view. Almost every village had one, sometimes even several, so that farmers did not have to travel far with their harvest. Because Tholen is open, flat and surrounded by water, it is moreover almost always windy there. Ideal conditions for windmills therefore.

Most mills on Tholen served as grain mills: they milled grain into flour for bread, porridge and animal feed. That sounds simple, but without flour no bread, and without bread no village. The miller therefore also had an important position in the community. In addition there were also polder mills (water mills), which were used to keep land dry. Tholen largely consists of polders that lie lower than the surrounding water, so without mills large parts of the island would be under water. Mills here literally provided habitable land.

In the 18th and 19th century the population grew and with that also the demand for flour. That led to competition between villages and millers. A new mill meant economic power and sometimes even prestige. Villages did not want to be dependent on neighbouring villages, so they built their own mill. That explains why today you encounter relatively many (former) mills on Tholen, often close to each other.

From the 20th century steam and electric motors took over the work and many mills went out of operation. Yet there are remarkably many mills preserved on Tholen. That is due to timely protection as national monument, local involvement and restorations. Nowadays they together tell the story of how people here for centuries cooperated with wind and water in order to be able to live, eat and farm.