Fort, vesting en -onderdelen, Kleizuwe Kortenhoef

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

Cluster 13. Fort installation.

NEW DUTCH WATER LINE

Introduction

FORT INSTALLATION WITH EARTHWORKS, (REMAINS OF) ROADS AND GUN POSITIONS, STORAGE BUILDINGS, AMMUNITION BUNKERS, WET DITCH WITH OUTER BANKS, (REMAINS OR TRACES OF) PARAPETS AND/OR EARTH COVERINGS AND GUN POSITIONS AND MILITARY ZONE MARKED FROM TIME IMMEMORIAL BY STONE POSTS as basic components of the defensive work. Forts were usually constructed on the basis of earthworks prepared in advance, which served as a foundation and were intended to prevent subsidence in (a wet and soft) soil. In the construction of the forts, apart from this usually already tactically 'preformed' earthwork - which could itself already fulfil a defensive role - a specific installation was also realised which was intended to increase the defensive strength, among other things through the inclusion of gun positions, to safeguard the safety of the garrison and to facilitate internal and external transport and traffic. In this way, among other things, earth coverings were created for various structures to make them less vulnerable to enemy fire, earth ramparts that covered buildings and open areas and determined the contours, as well as paved paths and parade grounds. Forts were usually surrounded by one or more wet or dry ditches to hinder any approach to the fortification or fort grounds until the last moment. Forts were normally only accessible via one or more bridges or via a narrow neck of land. Where for water management or other reasons a permanent direct connection between interior and exterior existed, it was constructed in such a way that it could not or only with the greatest difficulty be crossed. The use of so-called chevaux-de-frise, obstacles and/or barriers was customary for this purpose. Along the outside of the ditches there was often a road or path. This component could be laid out both in the form of a covered way (glacis / enveloppe), as well as at or above ground level. These roads or paths could have various functions, ranging from public road to maintenance path, and also from military covered way to exclusive access road to the fort. Outside the wet ditch there is moreover often a zone (marked from time immemorial and still in part as such with boundary posts) over which the Ministry of War had authority, the so-called Military Crown Land. At Fort Kijkuit the maintenance path has largely been incorporated into the modern traffic road, while the northern part of the fort ditch disappeared with the construction of the Hilversum Canal. The zone where the Ministry of War had authority is particularly still clearly visible to the north of the canal. To the northwest and southwest of the work - outside the ditch, on the gorge side - extra fortifications were added in 1886 in the form of revetted scarp walls and gun positions. These are no longer recognisable due to the construction of the canal, the road to Hilversum and buildings.

Description

FORT INSTALLATION WITH EARTHWORKS, (REMAINS OF) ROADS AND GUN POSITIONS, STORAGE BUILDINGS, AMMUNITION BUNKERS, WET DITCH WITH OUTER BANKS, (REMAINS OR TRACES OF) PARAPETS AND/OR EARTH COVERINGS AND GUN POSITIONS AND MILITARY ZONE MARKED FROM TIME IMMEMORIAL BY STONE POSTS of Fort Kijkuit. The fort consists essentially of a four-sided earthwork with strongly rounded boundaries, surrounded by an asymmetrically shaped wet ditch whose main contours were realised in the years 1844-1847. The earthworks and slopes lie at different levels which reflect, among other things, the locations of some underlying structures, coverings and gun positions and ammunition bunkers. The fort ditch and outer banks are - insofar as not incorporated into the canal - still present and clearly recognisable. North of the canal is a zone still recognisable as such in the field which belonged to the military terrain. Part of the road and path system within and around the fort is recognisable to a limited extent. Of the boundary posts there is certainly one present north of the Hilversum Canal.

Valuation

FORT INSTALLATION WITH EARTHWORKS, (REMAINS OF) ROADS AND GUN POSITIONS, STORAGE BUILDINGS, AMMUNITION BUNKERS, WET DITCH WITH OUTER BANKS, (REMAINS OR TRACES OF) PARAPETS AND/OR EARTH COVERINGS AND GUN POSITIONS AND MILITARY ZONE MARKED FROM TIME IMMEMORIAL BY STONE POSTS of Fort Kijkuit are of general importance because of:

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

* Architectural-historical values in particular as an expression of military-strategic building science, which is based on:

a. the system of inundation and access defence (19th century),

b. the race with increasingly powerful offensive means (19th century)

The component is an example of an earth installation with roads and paths and of an ensemble of structures with earth covering for various functions, with a wet ditch and with remains of a parapet and a military zone defined by means of boundary posts from the period 1844-1847 which in a later development phase was improved and expanded.

* Ensemble value and situational values because of its location within the system of the New Dutch Water Line in general, because of the basic relationship with the other components of the complex and in particular because of the virtually intact relationship with the field of fire.

* Archaeological values because of the possibly still present remains or traces of (earlier) works or events in the soil.

* The component is representative because this shows the system of access defence in a largely unimpaired physical environment.

* The component is well preserved because it shows in virtually unaltered state the system of protection by means of earth covering.