Fort, vesting en -onderdelen, Fort bij Asperen Acquoy (West Betuwe 25)

English translation

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Description

Cluster 67.

NEW HOLLAND WATER LINE

Introduction

FORT INSTALLATION AND EARTHWORKS, CONTAINING REMAINS OF GUN EMPLACEMENT POSITIONS, WET DITCH WITH OUTER BANKS, WITH (DIVERSION AND MAINTENANCE) ROADS AND WITH ZONE DEMARCATED BY BOUNDARY POSTS The Fort at Asperen is one of the tower forts belonging to the New Holland Water Line which are provided with characteristic earth and earth-placed components. Forts and comparable works were usually constructed on the basis of earth bodies brought in beforehand, which served as a foundation and were to prevent subsidence in (a wet and soft) soil. In the construction of the works, besides this usually tactically 'pre-formed' earth body - which in itself already possessed or could possess a defensive role - a specific installation was also realised which was intended to increase defensive strength, ensure the safety of the garrison and facilitate internal and external transport and traffic. This resulted, among other things, in earth coverings for various structures, to make them less vulnerable to enemy fire, earth ramparts which protected buildings and open areas and determined the contours, covered approaches, paved paths and assembly grounds. The earthworks were laid out in greatly differing ground plans, often with one or more bastions, which could also vary in form. Around the earth body came - where possible - a wet ditch, while the works were usually surrounded by a military boundary, which was demarcated with boundary posts. Over the ditch there was usually a (moveable) bridge - various types are found - but sometimes there was a fixed bank connection, for example in the form of a dam, which could form part of the road system. Along the outer side of the ditches there was often a road or path, which could be laid out both in the form of a covered way, as well as at 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 of old and still in part) demarcated as such with boundary posts over which the Ministry of War also had authority, the so-called Military State Land.

Description

FORT INSTALLATION AND EARTHWORKS, CONTAINING REMAINS OF GUN EMPLACEMENT POSITIONS, WET DITCH WITH OUTER BANKS, WITH (DIVERSION AND MAINTENANCE) ROADS AND WITH ZONE DEMARCATED BY BOUNDARY POSTS The Fort at Asperen consists mainly of a lens-shaped (almost semicircular) earthwork with the strongest curvature towards the east side and with different levels, of which the north and south sides have fairly sharp forms. The semicircular counterscarp roughly follows the line of the eastern earthwork. The earthworks enclose the open fort terrain or parade ground almost entirely, while the tower and counterscarp are covered by more or less adjacent earthworks. The fort was built at the time on the northern or right (here located to the east) Lingedijk, with the result that the (public) road over the dike (initially to the east, but) after c. 1880 was led to the west of the fort. The terrain is still largely in the condition of around 1880. The circular ditch around the tower that was filled in during the modernisation of that time was then partly transformed into an open area and partly used for the construction of the counterscarp, while the access to the fort (which until that time was on the south side) is now still on the northwest side at the Lingedijk. The ditch of the Fort at Asperen is still virtually complete and forms a spacious framing of the fort installation. On the west side the fort was traditionally reached via a bridge, but this has since been replaced by a dam over the ditch. The public diversion road lies on the western outer bank of the wet ditch and coincides there with the current Noorder Lingedijk; this is an adaptation carried out around 1880. Along virtually the entire east side of the wet ditch there are remains of a narrow maintenance path at quay level; the path is accessible from the south via a relic of the former Lingedijk. The ditch connects on the north side in a broad, open connection with the Acquoyse Wiel (remnant of a dike breach); here a maintenance road has been absent from of old. The diversion road is intersected near the wiel by an inundation sluice, which is connected to the Linge. By means of this sluice the water level in the wet ditch and the wiel could be regulated. The zone originally demarcated as such with boundary posts over which the Ministry of War had authority, is indicated on the map attached to this document.

Valuation

The FORT INSTALLATION AND EARTHWORKS, CONTAINING REMAINS OF GUN EMPLACEMENT POSITIONS, WET DITCH WITH OUTER BANKS, WITH (DIVERSION AND MAINTENANCE) ROADS AND WITH ZONE DEMARCATED BY BOUNDARY POSTS of the Fort at Asperen 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 first realised 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 centuries), b. the race with increasingly strengthening offensive means (19th and 20th centuries).

The component is an example of an earth installation with roads and paths system, earth covering for various functions, ditch, diversion road and military zone demarcated by means of boundary posts from the period 1845-1850, which in a later development phase, around 1880, was improved and extended.

* Ensemble value and situational values because of its location within the system of the New Holland Water Line in general and in particular in the virtually intact relationship with the adjacent and exceptionally extensive sluice complex, the Wapenplaats at Asperen and the field of fire.

* The component is representative because it shows different phases in the development of access defence on a large scale and in largely unimpaired physical environment and in particular those of the application of earth covering and of wet ditches around forts.

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