Three windmills on the dike

Three windmills on the Noordschermerdijk, Oterleek, Rustenburg, Photographed from the Molendijk. Front to back: Strijkmolen L, Strijkmolen K, Strijkmolen I. Windmills of the peat polders and reclaimed land of the Schermer-Beemster region. A "stijkmolen" (sweeping mill) is a water mill with a very low depth, which, as it were, "sweeps" the water from one body of water to the other; the mill itself has no function as a polder mill, although its construction is the same. In fact, it is a waterbody pumping station. The term "strijkmolen" was only used in North Holland. .All the sweeping mills drained the Schermer water body; there were originally fourteen pieces. When the water management was changed in 1941, the sweeping mills still in existence at that time lost their function. Eight of these still exist. West-Friesland, North-Holland, the Netherlands.