The Pilot Hill Mill in Slite Kvarnen på Lotsbacken i Slite
   
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The mill with Slite cement factory in the background.
   
The mill stands on the top of a hill giving shelter to the Slite harbour on the island Gotland in the middle of the Baltic. It is surrounded by the square remains of a medieval fortification. The place was used for a windmill already 400 years ago, but the existing mill was erected around 200 years ago in the early 19th century.

The site gives you a splendid view over the sea and was therefore used so much as an outlook for the pilots serving visitors to the important harbour of Slite. Actually, the hill was named "Lotsbacken" (= Pilot Hill) after its use. Till the pilots in the early 19th century got a watch out house of their own, the mill served as a shelter for them in bad weather.   
  The mill was also so well visible from the sea that it worked as an excellent beacon.

The mill is of dutch type with turnable top built in a way that was common on the island Gotland. It still has most of its original machinery left although more than one houndred years have passed since it was in use. But an ovehaul would be very welcome. 

 

Högst uppe på kullen och mitt i de kvadratiska resterna av ett medeltida försvarsverk har i fyra hundra år varit platsen för en väderkvarn. Den nuvarande kvarnen av holländsk modell byggdes i början av 1800-talet och har ännu efter hundra år av overksamhet kvar stora delar av sitt maskineri. (Men en restaurering skulle vara välkommen)

Kullen skyddar Slite hamn och kallades tidigare Slite Backe. Den erbjuder en fin utsikt över havet och har därför länge använts som såväl sjömärke som lotsutkik. Så länge faktiskt att kullen fått byta namn till "Lotsbacken".
  Innan lotsarna för omkring hundra år sedan fick en egen stuga fungerade kvarnen som väderskydd för vakthavande lots.  

You are invited to click the picture left and download a cut-out model for the mill. If you print it without rescaling, you get it in the scale 1:100
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