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The castle of Leiden - now in the middle of the city - was originally built on an artificial hill on the western tip of an 'island' in the Rhine. A moat protected the fortification on the east side. The hill was built in several stages around the year 1000, probably as a refuge in times of flooding. In the eleventh century, Count Floris I of Holland made the castle his power base, after Vlaardingen and Rijnsburg were destroyed by imperial troops. At that time there was only a wooden or stone tower on the hill. The boundary wall that still stands today was built in the twelfth century. Now only the foundation remains of the original residential tower.

The Broekdijkmolen in Warmond is an octagonal wooden polder mill built in 1862, which replaced a burnt-down octagonal mill from 1840. In 1972 the mill went downhill during a storm and could be stopped with difficulty. The following night, however, the mill burned down, probably as a result of overheating. The municipality of Haarlem offered an octagonal mill as a replacement. This could not be kept in its place in the Waarderpolder due to the expansion of an industrial estate. The mill was transferred in its entirety to Warmond and appeared to fit on the masonry substructure. The mill was installed in 1974; the restoration lasted until 1976. Until 1979, the Broekdijk mill was owned by the polder, then by the Oude Veenen water board and now by the Rijnlandse Molenstichting, which also supervised the 1976 reconstruction. The mill now drains the Broek en Simontjes polder on a voluntary basis. The mill is a national monument.