De Koker (The Chute)

Flour mill located at Oosteinde in Wormer

Wormer can attribute much of its fame to one activity, the baking of ships' biscuits. Flour was needed to bake these biscuits and in order to have sufficient flour wheat had to be ground in the mills. This activity began as long ago as the 16th century with one mill but when the demand for baking products began to grow exponentially more and more mills appeared for the purpose of grinding wheat.

 History

Of all the flour mills located in the village, only one is still with us today: De Koker or also called De Zwarte Hengst (The Black Stallion) on the Oosteinde. It is very much the question whether this mill is the original Koker or Zwarte Hengst, because very few mills have been subjected to the kind of treatment this mill had to endure. On various occasions, storm damage devastated its thatched roof, and on two occasions the mill caught fire (in 1840 and 25 years or so later). Despite all that, the mill is here to be enjoyed today, not only as a flour mill, but also as a peeling mill. It can truly be said to have double duties.

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