Windmill in Action
This windmill stands just outside the village of El Algar. It is one of three, amongst a half a hundred, which has been restored to working order. Strictly speaking it is not a mill - it does not mill anything; it is used to lift water from a well - but since it looks just like a mill and functions in the same way I will continue to refer to it by that name.
In this photo the mill is working; the sails are turning, and the buckets are rattling round and round on their rope belt, lifting water from the well. Water lifting mills such as this one are always built on a raised platform; generally they stand on a man-made platform, but sometimes a convenient hillock is employed. The higher the mill stands above the fields the greater the distance that the water can be made to flow - because, of course, it is carried to the fields, in wooden channels or earthenware pipes, by gravity alone.
To see more photos of this mill, follow the link.