Fort, vesting en -onderdelen, Achterdijk 12

English translation

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Description

Cluster 42.

Introduction

BOMBPROOF BARRACKS U, FLANK BATTERIES A AND B, POTERNES AND REMISES / STORAGE AREAS as linked and stacked components of the Fort at Vechten. A barracks is a residential building for soldiers and their equipment. It was the French who introduced, at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th century, the system of quartering soldiers in barracks; barracks have since become part of forts, but alongside this many have also been constructed as separate buildings within or outside built-up areas (towns). The barracks buildings situated within 19th-century forts and other works were usually constructed as bombproof shelters, that is to say they were intended to withstand enemy fire. Masonry many metres thick was initially used as building material and later (reinforced) concrete, while the roof and front side(s) were additionally covered with earth. Barracks not situated within forts or other works were buildings erected and fitted either specifically for that purpose or not, with accommodation for the (permanent) quartering of military personnel, often also provided with other military facilities, such as exercise grounds. Flank batteries are intended to command the ditch, projecting parts of the main wall of a fort or fortification and the terrain immediately in front of it, and consist of casemates or other gun emplacements positioned (at an angle) in the main wall. Poternes are covered and / or bombproof passages, for example through the main wall, which provide access to a fort or fortification or which connect components. Remises and storage areas were intended for storage or stabling of guns. Depending on the period of construction - and thus the expected impact force of projectiles - the term 'bombproof buildings' was used when they were considered to be capable of withstanding impacts from heavy calibre.

Description

Situated on the south-east side of the fort, earth-covered, brick, BOMBPROOF BARRACKS U from 1879-1881, connected via POTERNES with the earlier constructed brick FLANK BATTERIES A (left) and B (right) from 1867-1870. The ground floor of the barracks is seventeen bays long. Each bay is spanned by a triple relieving arch, beneath which in most cases a door and two arched windows with shutters are placed. The intermediate storey has a row of nine storage areas and has no gables. The building on the earthen roof of the barracks is likewise nine bays long and contains a row of nine REMISES / STORAGE AREAS. Each bay is spanned by a threefold relieving arch, beneath which originally an arched door was placed. Except for two, these doors have been replaced by double sliding doors. The interior consists of masoned rooms under vaults behind each bay, which in terms of design are all virtually identical. The kitchen in the bombproof barracks is located on the central axis and the spaces in which the privies are located are placed at the ends. The rooms are connected to each other via a back passage. The FLANK BATTERIES A AND B, positioned at an angle in the main wall, are accessible from the barracks via two bombproof masoned POTERNES. These poternes are located at the ends of the barracks.

Evaluation

The BOMBPROOF BARRACKS U, FLANK BATTERIES A AND B, POTERNES AND REMISES / STORAGE AREAS are of general importance by reason of:

* Cultural-historical values as part of the New Dutch Water Line, as designed by C.R.T. Kraijenhoff and initially realised from 1815 by him, Jan Blanken and Major-Engineer Willem Offerhaus and subsequently strengthened and improved by others over approximately 125 years.

* Military-historical values as part of a continuous military defence line between the former Zuiderzee and the Biesbosch. This consisted mainly of a coherent system of inundation fields and associated inundation means and shooting fields. This system was supplemented by diverse types of built or constructed (defence) works from different periods which served or contributed to the closure of non-inundatable terrain or other accesses.

* Architectural-historical values, in particular as an expression of military-strategic construction, which is based - on the system of inundation and access defence (19th century) - and on the race with strengthening offensive means (19th century).

This is an example of a large bombproof barracks with bombproof remises and storage areas on top and further adjoining poternes and flank batteries, the whole, in phases, from the period 1867-1881.

* Ensemble value and situational values, as components of the New Dutch Water Line. Also by reason of the functional and physical coherence with the other components of the complex.

* The buildings are representative (characteristic) because they still exhibit the physical characteristics that gave rise to their construction and because they are a good example of large-scale, linked shelters on a large fort.

* The buildings are fairly well preserved because in terms of structure and physical appearance the essentials of the condition in the 1880s have been preserved.