Windmill

The striking windmill on the side of Linnanrakentajantie road serves as the landmark of Hertonäs Manor museum. The windmill is, however, not one of the original buildings of the manor, since it has been relocated to its current placement in 1922 from Täktom in Western Uusimaa, now part of Hanko.

There are around 700 traditional old windmills remaining in Finland. The windmill in Hertonäs Manor grounds is a post mill. The name comes from the post that the mill is standing on.

Post mills are the oldest and most common type of windmill remaining in Finland, and they have been built since the Middle Ages. Due to standing on a post, it can be moved to face the wind.

Windmills were used in agrarian society to grind grain for bread and feed, until electric agricultural equipment became more common during the 1900s and made them obsolete. When the windmills were taken out of use, many of them were moved to museums, like what happened to the windmill that has ended up at Hertonäs.

The relocation of the windmill is due to the plans of creating a Swedish-speaking open-air museum on the manor grounds in the 1920s. The Bergbom family, which previously owned the manor, donated the manor and its buildings to an organization called Svenska Odlingens Vänner i Helsinge, which still maintains the museum. A stipulation of the donation was the founding of a museum on the property.

The organization Svenska småbruk och egna hem donated the windmill to Hertonäs. The windmill had previously been located at the Södergård farm in Täktom village, nowadays in Hanko.

The blades of the windmill at Hertonäs were renewed in the 1970s. The new blades were ordered from Riihimäki and they were made shorter than previously so that the local children would not be able to touch them. The wooden windmill has been repaired after this as well, since wooden buildings demand repairs from time to time.

Nowadays the windmill functions as a landmark of Hertonäs Manor museum and the signature of the restaurant in the area, Wanha Mylly (Old Mill). At the same time, the windmill is a good reminder of traditional ways of life and building.