Fort, vesting en -onderdelen, Werk aan de Groeneweg Houten

English translation

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Description

Cluster 62. Development.

NEW HOLLANDSE WATERLINIE

Introduction

LINEAR DEVELOPMENT OF INFANTRY POSITION of the Work at the Groeneweg, as a rare example of a 20th-century defence line consisting of deconcentrated concrete works. The line, transverse to the Lekdijk east of Fort Honswijk, in an area that was then relatively wet and overgrown with rough vegetation, dates from the period 1914-1918. The complex forms part of the military defence of access via the difficult-to-inundate levee area on the northern side of the Lek. It was also an outpost line of Fort Honswijk, the Lunet at the Snel and the battery positions along the Gedekte Gemeenschapsweg. On and near several plots totalling approximately one kilometre in length and less than 200 m wide - roughly perpendicular to the river bank - in accordance with the pre-existing field structure, lie various types of small concrete works. The plots show a zigzagging, three-way bent pattern with the Groeneweg as western boundary and a small country lane leading to the Tetwijkseweg. The eastern boundary extends along field ditches running parallel to this. The north-eastern and southern boundary are roughly determined by the railway from Utrecht to 's-Hertogenbosch and the Lek. The northern part of the work comprises almost exclusively remains of a covered way or low inundation barrier. Concrete works or other artefacts occur both within and outside these boundaries. The historical-spatial structure of the complex 'Work at the Groeneweg' can still be clearly recognised both in the field and from the air, partly thanks to the relatively well-preserved artefactual military micro-relief.

Description

The LINEAR DEVELOPMENT OF INFANTRY POSITION of the Work at the Groeneweg is linear in character and extends mainly along the east side of the Groeneweg and in the area to the north-east thereof, beyond the Achterdijk. Furthermore there are some scattered components to the west of the Groeneweg and in the floodplain, south of the Lekdijk. The most recognisable part of the development concentrates in a strip more than 200 m wide along the east side of the Groeneweg. The work functioned as the main defence line and outpost position of the behind-lying outdated forts. The infantry work at the Groeneweg consisted mainly of earthworks with trenches, in an irregular broken or zigzagging trace with fore and intermediate ditches, which arose from the excavation of earth for the ramparts and which also formed an obstacle. In 1918 shelters of armed concrete type 1918/I and 1918/II were built in the ramparts. During the mobilisation of 1939-1940 the work was adapted by the construction of a considerable number of group shelters type P, as well as some cast steel dome casemates and by the installation of obstacles. In front of the work, that is on its east side, an anti-tank ditch was placed, of which the remains are still recognisable.

The concrete works from the period 1914-1918 and 1939-1940 were laid out along a number of more or less north-south directed, linear systems of trenches and group nests. The shelters of types 1918/I and 1918/II were located along two roughly parallel trenches, reinforced with wooden poles, and their base and entrance are therefore usually located near or even below ground level. The trenches are no longer or scarcely recognisable, but the earthwork ramparts are partly still present. The smaller variant of the two (type 1918/I) usually lay along the most easterly trench. In a large number of cases the shelters are (partly) covered with earth, but the former course of the roughly parallel dug trenches can still be recognised in the positioning of the shelters. The group shelters from the period 1939-1940 are likewise situated in approximately linear relationship, but here the orientation of the closed gable opposite the entrance is less consistent than in the older shelters. A particular aspect of the Work at the Groeneweg consists of the partly still fairly rough and little cultivated character of the terrain, which reflects the extent of the earthworks.

Valuation

The LINEAR DEVELOPMENT OF INFANTRY POSITION of the Work at the Groeneweg is of general importance because of:

* Cultural-historical values as part of the Nieuwe Hollandse Waterlinie as designed by C.R.T. Kraijenhoff and realised in its initial development 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 building, which is based on: a. the system of inundation and access defence (19th and 20th century), b. the arms race with increasingly powerful offensive means (19th and 20th century), c. the system of 'living' field fortification in depth (20th century).

This concerns a component from the periods 1914-1918 and 1939-1940, which is an example of military-strategic building in a linear infantry position based on mutually connected earthwork and concrete works.

* Ensemble value and situational values as part of the Nieuwe Hollandse Waterlinie. Also because of the functional and physical coherence with the other components of the complex and with the nearby fields of fire, inundation fields and accesses.

* The component has become rare because as a development it is still an almost complete example of an advanced infantry position in the Nieuwe Hollandse Waterlinie and as such is representative (characteristic) of this type of defence works.

* The component is well preserved because almost all (types of) components belonging to the development are still present in more or less recognisable form and function, including remains of earthworks.