Brulmolen

Brulmolen is a former watermill standing on the Zwarte Beek stream in Beringen, in the Belgian province of Limburg. Although the building now serves as a private residence, its history stretches back to the Middle Ages, making it one of the more interesting traces of the region's old milling industry.

Where does the mill's history begin?

The first records of a mill on this site date back to before 1360, when the original structure was timber-framed — a construction style typical of watermills built along the smaller streams of Flanders at the time. The mill harnessed the flow of the Zwarte Beek to power an undershot waterwheel, a design in which water strikes the paddles below the wheel's axis rather than from above.

How did ownership change over the centuries?

Surviving records make it possible to trace the mill's fate from the 19th century onward. In 1844 the owner was Johanne Wouters, a woman of independent means living in Beringen. After her death, the property passed through several heirs until 1902, when it was bought by Jan Gijsbers-Coymans, a miller from Beringen, from the children of Louis Janssens-Wouters. It was under his ownership that the mill underwent a thorough reconstruction: work began in 1908 and was completed in 1913, by which point the building had gained an additional storey and had been partly converted for residential use. During this construction period, in 1910, a fire broke out at the mill, though it remains unclear whether it was connected to the ongoing building work.

In 1925 the property was divided between Gijsbers' children: Celestinus Van de Vorst-Gijsbers, a teacher in Beringen, and Pieter Bosmans-Gijsbers, a farmer in Koersel. In 1938 the mill passed to the coal mining company Naamloze Maatschappij der Koolmijnen, reflecting the coal-mining boom then underway in the Limburg region. The building was later renovated by François Vertessen-Mallants, and today it belongs to Werner Buttgereit and Katia Alens.

What does the mill look like today?

The Brulmolen building is a whitewashed brick structure located at Brulmolenstraat 2 in Beringen. While the structure itself has survived to the present day, most of its original milling equipment is gone — the waterwheel has been permanently set in concrete, and the sluices and internal drive mechanisms have been removed. The mill operated as a working industrial building until roughly the 1950s, after which it gradually fell out of use as a production site, though its architectural shell remained intact.

Today Brulmolen is privately owned and used as a residence; it is not open to visitors or accessible for touring. Even so, it remains a notable feature of the cultural landscape along the Zwarte Beek valley and one of the many watermills that once dotted this stream around Beringen.

Frequently asked questions

Can Brulmolen be visited? No — the building is a private residence and is not open to the public.

How old is the mill? Records of a mill on this site go back to before 1360, though the building's current form largely dates from the 1908–1913 reconstruction.

What type of mill was it? An undershot watermill, originally used for grinding grain, powered by the waters of the Zwarte Beek.

Where exactly is it located? At Brulmolenstraat 2 in Beringen, in the Belgian province of Limburg.