Versperring, Fort Blauwkapel Utrecht

English translation

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Description

Cluster 33. Bridge.

NEW HOLLANDIC WATER LINE

Introduction

BRIDGE to the redoubt as access to the Bomvrij guardhouse A dating from around 1850. The bridge probably dates in origin from around 1850, but will have had a predecessor. The bridge was substantially restored / reconstructed in 2008, with only partly authentic components being used. The raising or removal / destruction of bridges has since antiquity been a tried and tested means of warding off intruders. Not only was access or crossing over a watercourse, a dry or wet ditch or terrain depression thus obstructed or delayed, but an attacker also had to provide means to take the barrier themselves if necessary. Wooden bridges were relatively quick to destroy, if need be by setting them alight. Stone and concrete bridges required a larger and more time-consuming intervention, although an explosive charge could sometimes quickly achieve the desired effect. With the advent of iron bridges - applied on a large scale in many variants in the course of the 19th century - the second possibility remained, but the first disappeared. The blowing up of bridges was capital destruction and happened only in utmost necessity. One way in which iron bridges could be closed was that of removing or making inaccessible (small) parts of them. The iron access bridge to the redoubt on the south side of the fort consisted from time immemorial of two fixed parts at both abutments, with a removable part between them and a gate structure placed on it.

Description

Largely reconstructed BRIDGE to the redoubt (approximately 20 x 3.5 m), consisting of wooden bridge deck on cast iron yokes and beams and with masonry abutments finished with natural stone on both sides. Iron railings with welded, cross-braced connections between the posts along both originally fixed bridge sections and with a (formerly) removable part halfway along with imitation chains. A gate structure on the fort side of this.

Valuation

The BRIDGE to the redoubt of Fort Blauwkapel 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 from 1815 realised by him, Jan Blanken and major-engineer Willem Offerhaus and subsequently by others strengthened and improved for approximately 125 years.

* Architectural-historical values, in particular as an expression of military-strategic building, which is based on and arose as a consequence of

- the system of inundation and access defence (19th century) and

- the race with strengthening offensive means (19th century).

This concerns a component that probably originally dates from around 1850, namely an expression of historical road and water construction related to military-strategic building.

* Ensemble value and situational values as part of the Nieuwe Hollandse Waterlinie, as well as because of the functional and physical coherence with the other components of the complex.

* The component is representative (characteristic) because it is a good, but no longer authentic example of the application of this type of bridge in a military situation.