2-982-631 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The First Windmill at Jerusalem, 1858. 'Sir Moses Montefiore has caused to be erected at the foot of Mount Zion...a windmill for the use of the poorer inhabitants of Jerusalem, who had previously the laborious task of grinding their corn by hand-mills. The mill was constructed by Messrs. Holman, engineers and millwrights, of Canterbury...Great difficulty was experienced in landing the machinery at Jaffa, the landing-stage there not being strong enough to bear it. Each piece had to be dragged ashore by about forty men. Four months were occupied in conveying it thence to Jerusalem, on the backs of camels, the road not being passable to carriages of any description...The tower of the mill is built of stone quarried on the spot, and the walls are three feet thick and nearly fifty feet high...It is fitted with the self-acting regulating sails, to prevent its going too fast when the wind blows hard. It drives two pair of stones, and has flour-dressing and wheat-cleaning machinery attached. During the course of its construction it was looked upon with an evil eye by the millers there, and one of their head men was sent to curse it'. From "Illustrated London News", 1858.