Research

organization

Compagnie Internationale des Borax

tool

Moss scraper (osier)

This text can only be consulted in Dutch

page

Half-timbered barn

Haf-timbered barn at the Tommenmolen Since when was there a barn on this spot? The mill building dates from the 16th century, but we do not know exactly when the first barn was built. The Ferraris map (late 18th century) shows for the first time a building on the exact site of the current barn. The barn is clearly depicted on maps and land register plans of the 19th century. What did the original barn look like? We know this thanks to paintings, etchings and photographs from the first half of the 20th century. It was a half-timbered barn with a thatched or straw roof. However, that barn has disappeared, perhaps in the late 1940s, early 1950s, presumably after a fire. Current half-timbered barn Until 1977, the current barn stood on a yard on Veldkant street, about 500 meters from the Tommenmolen. At the initiative of the municipal council of Grimbergen and with the help of the Bokrijk open-air museum, the barn was fully measured, photographed and dismantled. The wooden framework went to Bokrijk for restoration...

bakehouse

Humbeeksebaan 189, Zemst, Belgium

tool

Marking hammer (lumberman)

Lumberman's hammer bearing the stamp of the owner of the forest or of the timber merchant, serving to mark felled trees on the cross-section. The hammer may have a stamp on one or both sides, or there may be a metal wheel on the handle bearing several letters or numbers so that a combination can be stamped. The stamp hammer can be distinguished from the marking adze, as it has no axe. See also the marking hammer of a tanner and the striking punch. [MOT]