Fort, vesting en -onderdelen, Gedekte Gemeenschapsweg met Inundatiekanaal Houten

English translation

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Description

Cluster 58. Construction of covered Community Road with Inundation Canal.

NEW HOLLAND WATERLINE

Introduction

The CONSTRUCTION of Inundation Canal and Covered Community Road as part of the main defence line of the New Holland Waterline and linear basis of works forms an important linear structure within the total defence line. The approximately three-kilometre-long Inundation Canal from Fort Honswijk at the Lek to the Schalkwijksche Wetering was dug shortly after 1870 to enable the area south and south-east of Utrecht to be rapidly flooded. For this purpose, the sluice works at Fort Honswijk were opened, after which the admitted water could flow further northwards via the Inundation Canal and the Schalkwijksche Wetering. When digging the Inundation Canal, the earth excavated from the canal section between the Lunet at the Snel and the Work at the Korte Uitweg was raised into an embankment on the west side thereof, behind which a so-called covered community road was created. Along this route—without lying under enemy fire or in sight of the enemy—material or troops could be transported and other communication maintained between different sections of the New Holland Waterline and in particular of the Honswijk Position. The canal was of both civil-hydraulic and defensive significance, also because of the elimination of the small watercourse the Snel as water drainage, likewise shortly after 1870. The profile of the earthen embankment was largely restored around 2008 and made recognizable again as a defensive work by making visible and perceptible a number of concrete and other works contained in and along it, and by clarifying the profile, course and function. The construction also includes the Military Land, traditionally marked by posts, the area over which the Ministry of War had authority.

Description

CONSTRUCTION of Inundation Canal and Covered Community Road, essentially consisting of an approximately 3 km long canal, with on the one hand a covered road with (constructed) defence means and on the other side a maintenance road. Around 1870 it was decided to dig an inundation canal at the height of Fort Honswijk and the Lunet at the Snel to facilitate the flooding of the area to the south-east of Utrecht. The projected canal ran almost due north to the Schalkwijksche Wetering, along which the water let in from the Lek could flow further. There was—according to the topographical map—an initially unintended bayonet-shaped bend at the height of the Work at the Korte Uitweg. Here the canal splits and thus forms a moat around this work. The 15 to 20 m wide canal (dug 1871–1874) is closed on the south side by an inundation sluice and was and is crossed by several bridges. South of the Work at the Korte Uitweg, the earth excavated when digging the canal was used to raise an earthwork and to construct a community road running parallel to it on the west side thereof (1874–1879). This road formed the connection between the many works situated along it. A road also came into being along the east side of the canal; its function was among others that of a maintenance road. The Covered Community Road and the canal together formed the main defence line, which was strengthened with earth gun emplacements, with a breastwork and with concrete shelters. Remains and traces of such artefacts are still present in various places. The construction of Inundation Canal and Covered Community Road furthermore includes in principle the adjacent area over which the Ministry of War had authority and which has traditionally been marked with boundary posts—the Military Land. The ensemble of the canal and the Covered Community Road forms through its scale and course a striking military artefact in the very flat and open landscape, of which—especially in the New Holland Waterline—there are now only few clear examples.

Valuation

The CONSTRUCTION of Inundation Canal and Covered Community Road between the Fort at Honswijk and the Schalkwijksche Wetering is of general importance because of:

* Cultural-historical values as part of the New Holland Waterline as designed by C.R.T. Kraijenhoff and first executed from 1815 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 architecture, which is based on: a. the system of inundation and access defence (19th century), b. the race with increasingly powerful offensive means (19th and 20th centuries), c. the system of 'living' field fortification in depth (20th century).

This concerns a component from the period 1871–1886 that is an example of historical water engineering related to military-strategic architecture and that served among other things as a water inlet and connection road.

* Ensemble value and situational values as part of the New Holland Waterline. Also because of the functional and physical coherence with the other components of the complex.

* The component has become rare because as a construction it is still an almost complete and readily recognizable example of a covered road with inundation canal in the New Holland Waterline and is as such representative (characteristic) of this type of defensive works.

* The component is well preserved because almost all (types of) structural elements belonging to the construction are still present in more or less recognizable form and function.