Militair wachtgebouw, Fort Everdingen Culemborg

English translation

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Description

Cluster 501. See also monument number 531672.

Introduction

TOWER as a distinctive built component of Fort Everdingen. Towers as components of forts were built into the 1860s, beginning in the Napoleonic period; in the Netherlands - except for a few exceptions from around 1810 - however only from around 1840 onwards, whereby the insights of military engineer J.G.W. Merkes van Gendt were guiding. Surviving Dutch towers usually have an approximately circular ground plan with a diameter of several tens of metres and were surrounded by a wet moat. They are two, three or four storeys high and consist of heavy - several metres thick - masonry. The principle was that the round form was well resistant to cannon fire impacts, while the defensive strength could be roughly equivalent in all directions. By positioning far-reaching artillery on top of the towers - where the lookout was also stationed - it was thought that a favourable defensive position could be achieved. For close defence, (numerous) loopholes for cannon and rifle fire were provided. Multiple towers were equipped with an earthen covering. With the advent of heavier artillery, with rifled barrels and especially of explosive shells, however, the towers' days were over: they proved vulnerable after all, were relatively easy targets and lost their defensive value within just a few years as a result. Consequently, various towers were stripped of their highest storey(ies) and provided with earthen protective embankments. What remained was their function as accommodation for personnel and materiel. Well-known tower forts in the Nieuwe Hollandse Waterlinie are those at Weesp, Fort Honswijk and Fort Everdingen. Most towers are incorporated into tower fort complexes surrounded by earthworks and (wet) moats, as is also the case with that of Fort Everdingen.

Description

Central in the current Fort Everdingen complex lies the brick TOWER built on a circular ground plan, which forms the core of the oldest layout. The tower was constructed in the years 1842-1847, after earthworks and foundations had first been realized. The tower has a diameter of approximately 39 m and was approximately 18 m high inclusive of earthen covering. The brick masonry of the curved facade is executed asymmetrically: the walls on the east side are thicker than those on the west side. There are three storeys, including the basement; on top of the structure is a metre-thick earthen covering. Also present here is a relatively small, separately earthed construction with curved facade, the so-called belvedère and centrally are remains of a gun emplacement. Around the tower lay an approximately 4 m wide, ring-shaped, wet moat with a drawbridge, from which the facade rose directly; in a later modification, this moat was partly filled in and replaced there by an approximately equally wide open corridor. The facade of the main volume has a straight termination at approximately 14.50 m height. This facade is provided all around with facade openings of different type and format (mainly arched and slit-shaped loopholes). A number of these facade openings can be closed with iron (basement level) or heavy wooden shutters and/or persiennes. The entrance, with a recessed arch within an arch segment and with double wooden doors, is located on the west side. On a plaque applied above it the name of the fort is indicated, among other things. Upon the construction of the counterscarp gallery, brick air arches were placed between the tower and the gallery.

The interior comprises on all storeys, among other things, curved, vaulted corridors with on each level 12, approximately trapezoidal spaces, which are accessible via arched entrances. The tower has a dome-shaped brick vault with a central light and ventilation opening.

Valuation

The TOWER of Fort Everdingen is of general importance because of:

* Cultural-historical values as part of the Nieuwe Hollandse Waterlinie as designed by C.R.T. Kraijenhoff and initially realized from 1815 by him, Jan Blanken and major-engineer Willem Offerhaus and subsequently strengthened and improved by others for approximately 125 years.

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

This concerns a component from the period 1841-1864, namely an example of a tower at a river access, from the years 1845-1847, built according to the insights of military engineer J.G.W. Merkes van Gendt.

* 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.

* The component is relatively rare because the fort most clearly aligns with the original example of the round towers and is representative because it was provided with a protective counterscarp gallery for military-tactical reasons, while as a rare phenomenon a part of the original moat around the tower has also remained.

* The component is well preserved because numerous characteristic components in exterior and interior have been retained and remain recognizable.