Culture & Ethnography - Heritage - Moinho de Caixeiros

The "Moinho de Caixeiros" - Caixeiros Wind-mill

In the outskirts of Santa Cruz in the settlement of Caixeiros, the “moinho de varzea” is found in excellent state of conservation, classified as Patrimony of Municipal Interest that was built in 1836.

The mills appeared in Europe around the XII century, arriving first in Italy and France, then the Iberian Peninsula and lastly were seen in England, Holland and Germany.

The mills used in Europe, in those days, had already a horizontal axis and possessed four large sails in the form of a cross. Its mains function was to mow cereals, although in Holland, they could be used to dry out large patches of land.

Maybe through influence of navigational art, in Portugal the mills were erected on the top of the hills and used their four cloth sails supported by four wooden masts.

The west is the region of the country with the most quantity of mills in the whole of Europe. In 1905, Gabriel Pereira, on a walk to Santa Cruz de Ribamar, today known as Santa Cruz, described the mills as: “Passing close to these mills in great hordes, the ropes full of crockery, dozens of clay vases; the millers of these places are great admirers of this music”.

The Caixeiros mill is a rare example of a wind-mill, being placed in a ditch; it can be designated as a “moinho de varzea”. Built in 1836 in place of a wind-mill that had been destroyed by the floods. In the year 1986, it was acquired by the Torres Vedras Municipality, and after important restoration repairs, it was inaugurated on the 10th July 1987.

The mill is currently working and is open to the public for visiting purposes. In this live museum it is possible to observe the machinery in motion, the grain and cereal being mowed and the flour-drying phase. In the adjoining building this flour in used to manufacture with traditional methods, an excellent home industry baked bread is made from corn flour or wheat, that can be purchased and savoured on the spot.

Did you know ...

A mill is an installation destined to fragment or pulverize raw materials, like grain and wheat and other cereals, by means of mowing. There are two large groups of traditional mills, that are classified and distinguished by the source of energy used to enable the mowing process.

• Wind-mills are the type of mill used by the force of the wind as a source of Energy “Aeolian Energy”.
• Water-mills are the type of mill that makes use of water currents “Hydraulic Energy”.

Text: Artur Henriques
Photos: Artur Henriques
Published: 26-Jul-2005

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