Fort, vesting en -onderdelen, Fort Uitermeer Weesp (Amsterdam 27)

English translation

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Description

Cluster 4. Remnant sluice gate.

NEW HOLLANDIC WATERLINE

Introduction

REMANT of a SLUICE GATE from 1673, which connected the 's-Gravelandsche Vaart with the Vecht and was defended by means of an earthen sconce and later by a bastioned fort. Fort Uitermeer has a number of building periods from the seventeenth to the twentieth century, from which several structures remain. As part of a building campaign in the Old Hollandic Waterline, the former earthen sconce Uitermeer was modified in 1673 into a bastioned fort. The fort lay around the mouth of the 's-Gravelandsche Vaart. Within it a sluice gate came into being in 1673. The sluice had not only a civil function to lock vessels to and from the Vecht, but also an important inundation function. The defence system of the Old Hollandic Waterline was, in addition to the system of forts, sconces and fortified towns, based on the flooding of (large) terrain areas. This system was greatly refined in the New Hollandic Waterline by means of an ingenious system of sluices, culverts, dams, tidal gates, dike ruptures, and so on. With these, the necessary water level could be quickly set and maintained within narrow limits. In part, existing civil water management structures were used for this purpose. Sometimes the works were (greatly) adapted to military requirements. Also, a large part of the works was specially built for the benefit of the New Hollandic Waterline. The seventeenth-century sluice gate of Fort Uitermeer was incorporated into the system in 1815, at the beginning of the construction of the New Hollandic Waterline, and served therein in both civil and military respects until 1878. The defence of the sluice gate was also the main function of Fort Uitermeer. This remained so after in 1878 a new sluice was built outside the fort moat and the 's-Gravelandsche Vaart was diverted along the east side. The northern mouth of the watercourse was filled in and the seventeenth-century sluice gate was partly demolished. Around 2005-2006 the remains of the sluice were excavated and incorporated into the consolidation and restoration plan of the fort for recreational and walking purposes.

Description

REMANT of a SLUICE GATE from 1673, centrally located on the fort island and consisting of a single sluice chamber with mortared sluice walls, provided with sandstone piers at locations where the construction needed extra strength. The sluice measures roughly 25 by 3.75 metres. The piers are present among other things at the height of the gate-beam seatings in the middle of the sluice chamber. Partly through this component - precisely at this location - the military function of the sluice is legible: by means of inserting wooden (gate) beams into the seatings, the water could be dammed, released or held back for the purpose of inundations. The sluice lies in the extension of the 's-Gravelandsche Vaart, which originally ran straight and from the fort emptied into the Vecht. The 's-Gravelandsche Vaart was diverted in 1878 along the east and north sides of the fort, which was also the start of further modifications to the fort.

Valuation

The REMNANT of the SLUICE GATE from 1673 is of general importance because of:

* Cultural-historical values as part of the New Hollandic Waterline as designed by C.R.T. Kraijenhoff and initially constructed from 1815 by him, Jan Blanken and major-engineer Willem Offerhaus and subsequently strengthened and improved by others for approximately 125 years.

* Architectural-historical values in particular as an expression of military-strategic architecture, which is based on the system of inundation and access defence (nineteenth century), but dates from the Old Hollandic Waterline. The component from 1673 is an example of an expression of historical hydraulic engineering related to military-strategic architecture within the New Hollandic Waterline, serving from 1815 to 1878 as an inundation sluice.

* Ensemble value and situational values as components of the New Hollandic Waterline. Also because of the functional and physical coherence with the other components of the complex. Fort Uitermeer was primarily built as a defence of this sluice.

* The component is relatively scarce because it is a remnant of a seventeenth-century sluice that formed the functional focal point of Fort Uitermeer, whose primary function was the defence of this sluice.

* The component is moderately well-preserved in that the seventeenth-century sluice chamber as such, despite deliberate dismantling, is still recognisable, including the gate-beam seatings for the inundation function.