Fort, vesting en -onderdelen, Fort Everdingen Everdingen

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 501.

NEW HOLLAND WATER LINE

Introduction

FORT LAYOUT WITH EARTHWORKS CONTAINING THREE CONSUMPTION MAGAZINES, (REMAINS OF) GUN EMPLACEMENT POSITIONS, WET DITCH WITH OUTER BANKS, WITH INUNDATION CHANNELS, WITH (DIVERSION AND MAINTENANCE) ROADS AND WITH A ZONE MARKED BY BOUNDARY STONES as basic components of Fort Everdingen. Forts were usually constructed on the basis of pre-formed earthbodies, which served as a foundation and prevented subsidence in (wet and soft) soil. In the construction of the forts, apart from this usually already tactically 'pre-shaped' earthbody - which in itself could already fulfil a defensive role - a specific layout was also realised which was intended to increase defensive strength, ensure the safety of the garrison and facilitate internal and external transport and traffic. In this way, for example, earth coverings were created for various structures to make them less vulnerable to enemy fire impacts, earth ramparts that covered buildings and open areas and determined the contours and paved paths and parade grounds. Forts were usually surrounded by one or more wet or dry ditches to prevent possible approach to the fortification or the fort grounds by an enemy for as long as possible. Forts were usually only accessible via one or more bridges or via a narrow isthmus. Where for waterworks or other reasons a permanent direct connection between the interior and exterior area existed, it was constructed in such a way that it could only be passed with the greatest difficulty. The use of so-called chevaux de frise, monk guards (at fortifications) and/or gates was customary in this regard. The inundation channel - laid out on the basis of a possibly medieval field ditch - runs from the inundation lock / check lock in the summer dike of the Lek southwards to the Prijsseweg / Prijssedijk. The channel coincides on the east side of Fort Everdingen with the fort ditch and was normally closed by the inundation lock with removable-panel gate and the lock gate that form part of the Southern Lek Dike. A third barrier was formed by the still existing inundation lock with removable-panel gate in the Rondweg, at the south-eastern corner of the fort. From the south-eastern corner of the fort the inundation channel runs from time immemorial over approximately 700 m in a straight line towards the Prijsseweg. The total length of the channel - including the section that coincides with the fort ditch and including a filled-in section of approximately 230 m - is approximately 1600 m. A section of it thus also forms part of the fort layout, which was partly intended for the defence of the locks and the inundation channel. Along the outer side of the ditches there was often a road or path, which could either be laid out in the form of a covered way (glacis / envelope), or at the same level as, or even 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 (from time immemorial and still partly) marked with boundary stones as such over which the Ministry of War had jurisdiction, the so-called Military Crown Land. To the north-west of the fort, close to the river bank, a shooting range possibly came into being in the interwar period. Most shooting ranges are marked on maps in the form of a number of more or less parallel dotted lines and a small square. This shooting range is also depicted in this way; it can be seen on Bonne sheet 1:25,000, no. 486, 1932 and/or 1938. The shooting range has disappeared and was possibly replaced by the one to the south of the Werk aan het Spoel.

Description

FORT LAYOUT WITH EARTHWORKS CONTAINING THREE CONSUMPTION MAGAZINES, (REMAINS OF) GUN EMPLACEMENT POSITIONS, WET DITCH WITH OUTER BANKS, WITH INUNDATION CHANNELS, WITH (DIVERSION AND MAINTENANCE) ROADS AND WITH A ZONE MARKED BY BOUNDARY STONES of Fort Everdingen. The fort currently consists mainly of a rectangular, asymmetrical earthwork with different levels and with - as far as the ground plan is concerned - four different bastions, of which the outer slope has rounded forms. The earthworks almost completely enclose the fort grounds or terreplein, whilst the tower, the two other large bombproof buildings and the counterscarp gallery are also covered by earthworks. The fort was built at the time at the T-junction of the Southern Lek Dike and the Diefdijk, with the result that the (public) roads over both dikes had to be diverted southwards. At the T-junction there is a concrete box which contained gritting material to keep the slope passable in frost. The earthworks comprise remains of emplacement positions for guns within and outside the fort ditch; the latter in particular at the T-junction of Lek Dike and Diefdijk, where an earth battery is recognisable. The fort dates from the period 1842-1847 and was improved in the years 1873-1880. The fort grounds are crossed by a path system lined with Dutch clinker bricks with straight and curved lines along which the buildings and other functions and components are accessible. These accessible functions include, among others, three consumption magazines on the inside of the eastern earthworks. The consumption magazines covered with barrel vaults are executed in brickwork and are characterised by their arched, masonry entrances within a shallow, partly arched masonry and partly barrel vault executed portico. Doors are now absent; on either side of the entrance virtually right-angled wing walls. The ditch of Fort Everdingen is still virtually completely present and forms an ample framework for the fort layout. The east side of the fort ditch - including three locks - formed part of the north-south directed inundation channel between the Lek and the Prijsseweg / Prijssedijk. The fort ditch was a link in the supply of water for possible inundation of the polder area behind it. The channel is largely unchanged and is still easily recognisable as such in terms of form and function. The northern part of the channel - up to where it merges into the fort ditch is approximately 300 m long and 30 m wide and extends with a slight curve from the summer dike of the Lek to the fort ditch. The part of the inundation channel that coincides with the fort ditch is approximately 450 m long and approximately 25 m wide. The part of the inundation channel south of the lock in the Rondweg is - except for the filled-in part - largely unchanged and is still easily recognisable as such in terms of form and function. The still present southern part of the channel - from the Rondweg to the Prijsseweg / Prijssedijk - is now approximately 470 m long and 5 m wide. At the location of the filled-in section, remains, traces and other values of the channel may still be present. On the west side, the fort has been accessible from time immemorial via an isthmus. The public diversion road lies on the southern outer bank of the wet ditch; on the north side only a maintenance path at flood plain level is present. The ditch around the fort is particularly distinctive in character because the three associated waterworks / locks for the purpose of inundation of the inundation areas located to the south-east of the fort are still present. By means of the locks, different water levels could be set in the northern and southern halves of the wet ditch and in the inundation field to the south-east of the Diefdijk. A special element of the layout is also the remnant of the ditch around the tower; these ditches have been filled in at several towers. The originally with boundary stones marked as such zone over which the Ministry of War had jurisdiction, the Military Crown Land, is indicated on the map belonging to this document.

Evaluation

The FORT LAYOUT WITH EARTHWORKS CONTAINING THREE CONSUMPTION MAGAZINES, WITH (REMAINS OF) GUN EMPLACEMENT POSITIONS, WET DITCH WITH OUTER BANKS, WITH INUNDATION CHANNELS, WITH (DIVERSION AND MAINTENANCE) ROADS AND WITH A ZONE MARKED BY BOUNDARY STONES of Fort Everdingen is of general interest because of:

* Cultural-historical values as part of the New Holland Water Line 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 more than 125 years.

* Architectural-historical values in particular as an expression of military-strategic building construction, which is based on: a. the system of inundation and access defence (19th century), b. the race with increasingly strengthened offensive means (19th century)

The component is an example of an earth layout with roads and path system, earth covering for various functions, ditch, diversion road and military zone marked by means of boundary stones from the period 1841-1864, which was improved and extended in a later development phase (1871-1886).

* Archaeological values because of the anticipated traces and/or remains of excavated or constructed waterworks and the like in the soil.

* Ensemble value and situational values because of its location within the New Holland Water Line system in general and in particular in the virtually intact relationship with the field of fire and inundation means.

* The component is representative because it shows different phases in the development of large-scale access defence in a virtually unspoiled physical environment and in particular that of the application of earth covering and wet ditches around forts. Exceptional is the remnant of the wet ditch around the tower.

* The component is well preserved because it has shown the system of protection by means of earth covering in virtually unchanged state since approximately 1900 and because the ground plan, the entire ditch and the ring road have been preserved virtually unchanged.