The towers of this latter form of old windmill were made of every conceivable or possible form and material. Straight or cylindrical; tapering or cone shaped; octagonal or multi-sided; even bottle shaped, like a mammoth milk bottle of the present time. Again, on open arches, as in two notable structures later referred to—anything to carry the overhead work, according to the fancy or purse or conditions governing the builder. Of brick or stone or wood; slate, shingle or thatch covered, in height these towers ranged from 25 to 100 feet. The largest ever built was at Great Yarmouth, England, 11 stories high, and over 100 feet, exclusive of the great vanes. The great Dutch grist mills were however, a close second in height, and with a base of some 35 feet and a top width of 16 feet were massive structures indeed. These tall structures were divided by various floor levels, the lower rooms thus formed containing the mill-stones or saw or other driven machinery, while the upper ones were used for living quarters or storage. The structure of the smaller post mills, however, being suspended on the centre posts, was never of stone or brick, but wholly of wood, and these rotating or movable buildings ranged in size from about 10 by 12 feet to 16 by 24 feet in the larger ones, and up to two stories in height.

At the top of the mills, of course, was located the wheel shaft and gearing, and to protect this from the weather there was always a covering or “mill head” or top, and these tops have taken a great variety of interesting forms, for no apparent particular reason, and yet often a fixed style, following some geographical location. For instance, in France the almost universal

POST MILLS
All pivoting on single centre post support.

England and
Holland, brick.		Holland, Germany,
Sweden, etc., wood.		France,
stone.		Hungary,
stone.		Spain,
stone.		Turkey and Eastern
Mediterranean.
[THE FOUR TYPES OF WINDMILLS.]

or characteristic shape is that of a steep true cone; in Denmark, Sweden, etc., a Turk’s head or turban type was the standard; also in England, on the great tower mills. Yet in Holland, on the same type of mill, such was never used, but a distinct Dutch form of irregular shape, and almost always thatched. And in the Mediterranean countries the tops become so flattened or lowered as to in some cases almost disappear. The accompanying plate well illustrates these structural and geographical differences.

While the old mills all divide into either post or tower mills, there are yet two well-defined further forms, or variations of type, that should be remarked.