Torkilstrup Windmill
Torkilstrup Windmill is a post mill south of the village of Torkilstrup on the Danish island of Falster. Dating from 1743, it is one of the country's few post mills which still stand on their original site. It was listed in the Danish registry of protected buildings and places in 1959.
History
Standing on a hill to the south of the village, the grain mill dates back to c. 1650. Hans Mortensen acquired it in 1726, operating it for the next 44 years. In 1743, he rebuilt the mill, recording the date on an interior beam around a heart containing his initials together with those of his wife Anna Margrethe Pedersdatter. Mortensen must have been a thrifty individual. On his death at the age of 65, in addition to a chiming clock, an iron stove, a four-poster bed, a Bible and a German prayerbook, he left an amount of over 793 rigsdaler, an exceptionally high amount of money for a farmer of his day. The mill remained in operation until 1945.The mill was listed in the Danish registry of protected buildings and places in 1959. It was restored in 1993 in connection with its 250th anniversary. Since 2003, the mill has been under the ownership of Guldborgsund municipality, the authority charged with its preservation.