"Smalspoortunnel ""De Hondsdiek"""

English translation

The text above is the record as published by the Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed, in Dutch. The English below is a machine translation made by TreeAlive, not by the Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed; it has not been checked by a person. Where the two differ, the original is the record. Report a translation error: privacy@treealive.com

Description

Introduction

In the Heide district, to the east of the old village centre of Tegelen, in the Tegelse hill-ridge area at the 'Snelle Sprong' lies the NARROW-GAUGE TUNNEL 'De Hondsdiek' with a long ACCESS PATH. Via the narrow-gauge railway, pottery clay was transported from a clay pit to a clay factory situated elsewhere. The simple tunnel was built, in all probability, in the nineteen-twenties of the twentieth century on behalf of 'N.V. Tiglia kleiwarenfabrieken' and is constructed in a businesslike and functional style with elements of Functionalism.

The narrow-gauge railway itself has now been cleared; the artificial tunnel and access path remain as clearly visible traces in the landscape.

A minority of Tegelen pottery-ware manufacturers sourced the required clay from this hill-ridge area (the 'steep edge'). The distance between the pits and the pottery-ware factories was relatively large. In addition to Tiglia, manufacturer Thissen also had a pit here. The issue of raw material transport led to the first mechanisation in the Tegelen coarse-ceramic industry. For this purpose, an extensive network of narrow-gauge railway connections was laid between the clay pits and the factories, initially largely for shared use. This narrow-gauge railway was of very great importance for the development of the ceramic industry in the period from 1900 until shortly after the Second World War. It was available in track gauges of 600, 700 and 900 mm. Raw material supply was one of the most important matters with which the management of the ceramic businesses was occupied. Businesses that did not recognise this necessity in time or were not able to make adequate provisions for it were forced in due course to halt production. Initially clay extraction took place largely collectively from municipal lands; from the nineteen-thirties onwards, raw material supply was sought from extraction sites and clay pits outside Tegelen.

Description

Concrete, in-situ cast NARROW-GAUGE TUNNEL which runs in an east-west direction beneath the Tegelse hill-ridge. Elongated, rectangular shaft. Broad sidewalls. Tunnel roof with flat ceiling and a curved upper surface with rounded corners. Characteristic ACCESS PATH, winding on the east side and relatively straight on the west side. Especially on the west side, on either side of the path, an artificially excavated, high and steep earthen slope.

Valuation

The NARROW-GAUGE TUNNEL 'De Hondsdiek' with ACCESS PATH is of general importance. The object has great cultural-historical values. It is of importance as a distinctive expression of the socio-economic developments in the North Limburgian coarse-ceramic industry in the early twentieth century, of which Tegelen was the centre. Because of the importance attached by this industry to raw material supply—and thereby to transport possibilities—the object is also of importance as an expression of a landscape development. Furthermore, the object is of importance because of its pioneering character. The construction of a narrow-gauge railway line with all its associated artefacts was an innovative technical development which illustrates the first mechanisation in the coarse-ceramic industry. The object possesses ensemble values because of the characteristic urban planning situation between the former, nearby clay pit and the former factory complex of 'N.V. Tiglia kleiwarenfabrieken'. The object has great rarity value. The object in question is in the given context a typological unique specimen that does not exist elsewhere in the Netherlands outside Tegelen.