Fort, vesting en -onderdelen, Fort Honswijk Schalkwijk (Houten 26)

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 61. Inundation sluice / check sluice with bridge.

NEW DUTCH WATERLINE

Introduction

INUNDATION SLUICE / CHECK SLUICE WITH BRIDGE as a military-hydraulic engineering component of the inundation means for the area to the east and southeast of Utrecht. The defence system of the New Dutch Waterline was primarily based on the controlled flooding of (large) terrain surfaces. Controlled inundation required an ingenious system of waterworks, such as sluices, weirs and canals, by means of which the necessary water level could be set and maintained quickly and within strict limits. Many different types of sluices were employed, depending on the location where they functioned in the system. Sometimes already existing shipping, discharge or check sluices were used, but many new ones were also built or existing ones were (substantially) adapted. The latter category included three inundation sluices at Fort Honswijk. Firstly, there was a large, double-configured inlet sluice for Lek water to the east of the counterscarp gallery at the tower fort. In addition, there were two smaller ones in the dike around the outside of the moat around the fort, one on the northeast side and one on the east side. The first two sluices have been removed or have become invisible due to water authority works. The last-mentioned, with a bridge built upon it in the diversion road, is still visibly present. This sluice functioned as part of the supply of the Inundation Canal and as a check sluice, by means of which the northern part of the wet moat around the fort could be maintained at the desired level.

Description

The INUNDATION SLUICE / CHECK SLUICE WITH BRIDGE in the outer bank of the wet moat of Fort Honswijk is a 'hybrid' structure consisting of a masonry and concrete sluice with six heads and five openings, each fitted on the wet moat side with double plank-grooves. The sluice with bridge dates from 1846. The masonry heads are covered by natural stone plates; the right-angled wing walls of the two outermost sluice heads are laid with a slight slope. There are no longer any winches for raising or lowering planks. Next to the plank-grooves, a roadway laid on a reinforced concrete floor extends over the heads, presumably dating from the first decades of the 20th century. A rectangular block pattern is visible in the concrete. The 20 m long bridge is fitted on the west side (the wet moat side) with an iron railing with cross-braced uprights. A similar railing on the east side of the sluice with bridge, where part of the Inundation Canal was later infilled, has disappeared. The canal silted up here after the Second World War, while the concrete bridge has become invisible beneath earth.

Appraisal

The INUNDATION SLUICE / CHECK SLUICE WITH BRIDGE on the east side of Fort Honswijk and as a barrier and bridge forming part of the diversion road, is of general importance because of:

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

* Architectural-historical values, in particular as an expression of building related to military-strategic engineering, which is based on the system of inundation and access defence (19th century).

This is an expression of historical hydraulic engineering related to military-strategic building, namely an inundation sluice / check sluice with bridge from 1846, with additions from the first half of the 20th century.

* Ensemble value and situational values as part of the New Dutch Waterline. Also because of the functional and physical coherence with the other components of the complex and in particular because it is the (only remaining of three) inundation sluice at Fort Honswijk.

* The component is reasonably well preserved because its main form, constructional detailing, later adaptation of the bridge and various components have remained recognisable.