Why go
The mills explain a practical problem at the meeting of the Lek and Noord: draining land that continued to sink while river levels rose. Canals, reservoirs and wind-powered pumps worked together to move water in stages. This makes Kinderdijk especially rewarding for an interest in engineering and the making of the Dutch landscape.
The full story
The Alblasserwaard’s drainage problems grew during the Middle Ages. Large canals called weteringen carried away excess water, but draining the ground also caused it to subside. Meanwhile, deposits raised the river bed. Simply letting water flow away became less effective as the difference in levels increased. Around 1740, nineteen windmills were built to help overcome that difference. They moved water into an intermediate reservoir, allowing it to be released towards the river when conditions permitted. The arrangement makes sense as a connected system rather than a row of isolated buildings. Kinderdijk received UNESCO World Heritage status in 1997. The name, meaning “children’s dike”, is associated with a flood legend about a baby in a floating cradle. A cat supposedly kept the cradle balanced until it could be rescued. This is folklore, distinct from the documented engineering history of the mills and polders.