Fort, vesting en -onderdelen, Diefdijk Geldermalsen (West Betuwe 25)

English translation

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Description

Cluster 65.

NEW HOLLAND WATERLINE

Introduction

BRIDGE AND SWING BRIDGE as access bridge over the moat around the Work on the Railway at the Diefdijk. The raising or removal / destruction of bridges has been a proven means of warding off intruders since antiquity. Not only did this hinder or delay passage or crossing over a watercourse, a dry or wet moat or a terrain depression, but an attacker also had to provide means to potentially take the barrier himself. Wooden bridges were relatively quick to destroy, if necessary by setting them on fire. Stone bridges required a larger and more time-consuming intervention, although a explosive charge could sometimes quickly produce the desired effect. With the arrival of iron bridges - applied on a large scale in the course of the 19th century in many different variants - the second possibility remained, but the first disappeared. Moreover, blowing up bridges was also a crude form of capital destruction. One of the ways in which iron bridges could be closed was by removing or making inaccessible small parts of them. This happened from the third quarter of the 19th century - besides by raising - among other things through the defensive application of so-called swing bridges, both in roads and railways. Such swing bridges could be swivelled to the side via vertical axes to create an open space. Civil swing bridges had previously been applied at crossings of waterways and railway lines, but they were also used in the New Holland Waterline at the Diefdijk and at Naarden. Swing bridges are a Dutch invention from around 1845, credited to engineer F.W. Conrad.

Both on the front side and on the gorge side of the Work on the Railway at the Diefdijk, the major part of the water span took place by means of bridges with underslung lattice girder work and elevated roadway; a smaller part of the moat bridging by railway and roadway was closed by means of swing bridges. The bridge on the front side, over the Acquoyseweg, was replaced long ago by an embankment. Remains of the abutments and the pier may possibly be preserved in the current embankment. The railway bridge on the gorge side was presumably replaced around 1958 by another specimen and in 2008 this bridge too was replaced. The railway swing bridge replaced in 1958 (or possibly the specimen that was on the front side) - which was of a much heavier construction than that in the roadway - was reused as a 'passing bridge' beside the track. This bridge section was likewise removed and replaced in 2008; this bridge component is stored pending possible reuse. Now only the swing bridge and the fixed lattice girder bridge remain in the roadway on the gorge side in situ. Swing bridges have become extremely rare; as far as is known, this is the only complete, authentic specimen. Bridge and swing bridge in the roadway / access way were restored in 2011.

Description

BRIDGE AND SWING BRIDGE on the west side of the Work on the Railway at the Diefdijk, which together form the access to the small fort. The moat of the Work on the Railway at the Diefdijk is spanned by a traffic bridge and a railway bridge. The traffic bridge consists of a fixed bridge built around 1880 and a swing bridge.

The fixed BRIDGE rests on the west side on the abutment and on the other side on a high-built pier. The wings are in line with the abutments. In both the pier and both abutments, natural stone blocks have been used alongside the brickwork. The fixed bridge is an underslung lattice girder bridge with elevated roadway of approximately 20 m in length. The bridge is constructed with simple falling lattice work with crossed diagonals only in the middle panels.

The SWING BRIDGE dating from the same period is constructed from riveted sheet metal and angle iron sections and spans approximately 7 m. This bridge, mounted on the east side of the water on the high-rising brickwork of the abutment, could be swivelled to the side by means of a quarter-circular hinge, after a wooden floor had been removed. The bridge rests at the loose west end, apart from on the abutment, on four profile irons placed diagonally towards the pivot point. The swing bridge of the Work on the Railway at the Diefdijk represents high typological and technical / cultural-historical rarity value.

Valuation

BRIDGE AND SWING BRIDGE are of general importance because of:

* Cultural-historical values as part of the New Holland Waterline as designed by C.R.T. Kraijenhoff and initially from 1815 implemented 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 military-strategic building construction, which is based on: a. the system of inundation and access defence (19th century), b. the arms race with increasingly strengthened offensive means (19th century)

This concerns a component from the period 1880-1885, namely an expression of historical water construction related to military-strategic building construction, serving as a double bridge, consisting of an underslung lattice girder bridge with high roadway and a complete swing bridge connected in series with it.

* 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 swing bridge component has become rare and is representative (characteristic) because only a few comparable types - but incomplete - have been preserved; the component underslung lattice girder bridge with high roadway is representative because it is a good example of the application of this type of bridge in a military situation.

* The component is well-preserved because virtually all essential components have been maintained in situ and in function.