Mostert's Mill, Historic windmill in Mowbray, Cape Town, South Africa.
Mostert's Mill is a historic windmill in the Mowbray neighborhood of Cape Town, South Africa. The tower is built from stone and brick, topped with a rotating thatched cap and fitted with four sails that can still turn in the wind.
The mill was built in 1796 on Welgelegen Farm, making it the first privately operated mill in the Cape Colony. After a fire caused serious damage, a full restoration was completed in 2024, bringing it back into working order.
The mill is named after Sybrand Mostert, son-in-law of Gysbert van Renen, who built it on his farm Welgelegen; the name passed to the mill after Van Renen's death. Its four common sails follow Dutch tradition because no original sail survived to copy when Christiaan Bremer restored the mill in 1935. The Friends of Mostert's Mill, formed in 1993, run it and grind wheat into whole meal.
The Friends of Mostert's Mill open the mill to the public on one Saturday a month, from 10:00 to 14:30, not a fixed third Saturday, so confirm the date with them before travelling. The mill stands on the M3 beside the University of Cape Town, on the slopes of Devil's Peak.
Mostert's Mill is the only working structure of its kind south of the Sahara on the African continent. This makes it a rare surviving example of a milling tradition that has disappeared almost everywhere else on the continent.
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