Fort, vesting en -onderdelen, Lunet I Utrecht

English translation

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Description

Cluster 44. Lunette Installation.

NEW HOLLAND WATERLINE

Introduction

LUNETTE INSTALLATION WITH BRICK-CLAD EARTHWORK FORTIFICATIONS, REMAINS OF GUN EMPLACEMENT SITES, WET DITCH WITH OUTER BANKS, WITH (BYPASS AND MAINTENANCE) ROADS, CONCRETE STEPS AND ENVELOPE / GLACIS AND WITH (FORMERLY) BOUNDARY-MARKED ZONE (MILITARY STATE LAND) of Lunet I, as basic components of the northernmost of four mutually comparable defensive works. This concerns an earthen fortification faced with brick, constructed between 1825 and 1828, situated between the Kromme Rijn on the north side and the Koningsweg on the south side. Characteristic of this type of work are the closed front face executed with two faces and the open gorge side. The brick-clad masonry walls and the wet ditches are not standard elements in lunette-shaped defensive works, but for these four lunettes at Utrecht they are distinctive. At the front, the facing masonry rises from the ditch, which in turn is protected by (remains of) an envelope. Outside the work, the openness of the former field of fire remains clearly recognizable, as does the defensive function with respect to the approaches Koningsweg and Kromme Rijn. On the gorge side (west side) of the work, outside the access bridge, there is a square, natural stone 'diamond'; a second specimen lies on the other side of the connecting road. These were the crowns of no longer present tenailles at the entrance of the fort at the time when the masonry walls provided with gun ports around the work were considerably higher. In the early twentieth century the walls were reduced to their current height and the gate disappeared. A second wet ditch - only along the northeast side of the work and presumably from a second construction phase of the work - was later, possibly after the Second World War, filled in. At Lunet I these diamonds have been preserved.

Description

LUNETTE INSTALLATION WITH BRICK-CLAD EARTHWORK FORTIFICATIONS, REMAINS OF GUN EMPLACEMENT SITES, WET DITCH WITH OUTER BANKS, WITH (BYPASS AND MAINTENANCE) ROADS, CONCRETE STEPS AND ENVELOPE / GLACIS AND WITH (FORMERLY) BOUNDARY-MARKED ZONE (MILITARY STATE LAND) of Lunet I, dating from the period 1825-1828. Essentially a five-sided, symmetrical earthwork with on the work some earth-covered components and (remains of) earthen slopes and positions for guns (emplacements). Around the earthwork a heavy single masonry facing wall rising from the ditch, several metres high, which transitions into both higher built-up flank casemates. The two sharp angles at the gorge side (west) of the work are reinforced and emphasized with natural stone blocks. In the earthwork several small concrete structures were built in the Interwar period at certain locations, while the atomic bunker is covered almost entirely by earthworks. Approximately between the southern of the two flank casemates and the nearest Group Shelter Type P a staircase composed of concrete segments. There may still be remains or traces present of earlier gun emplacement positions, trenches, built components, a ditch and other elements and structures no longer observable in the field. The zone originally marked with boundary posts as such, over which the Ministry of War held authority, the Military State Land, in which the envelope / glacis is located, forms in principle part of the protected installation.

Valuation

The LUNETTE INSTALLATION WITH BRICK-CLAD EARTHWORK FORTIFICATIONS, REMAINS OF GUN EMPLACEMENT SITES, WET DITCH WITH OUTER BANKS, WITH (BYPASS AND MAINTENANCE) ROADS, CONCRETE STEPS AND ENVELOPE / GLACIS AND WITH (FORMERLY) BOUNDARY-MARKED ZONE (MILITARY STATE LAND) of Lunet I at Utrecht is of general importance because of:

* Cultural-historical values as part of the New Holland Waterline as designed by C.R.T. Kraijenhoff and initially realised from 1815 by him, Jan Blanken and Major-Engineer Willem Offerhaus and subsequently by others strengthened and improved 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 century), b. the race with increasingly strengthened offensive means (19th century), c. the system of 'living' field fortification in depth (20th century).

The component is an example of a largely earthen and brick installation from the period 1825-1828, which among other things in the 1930s and again after the Second World War was adapted to requirements of (then) modern defence and warfare.

* Archaeological values due to the possibly present remains or traces in the soil of earlier building phases, gun emplacement positions, trenches, earthen-masonry and concrete structures, waterways and the like.

* Ensemble value and situational values through the location within the system of the New Holland Waterline in general, through the special position in conjunction with three other lunettes and through the recognizable relationship with the field of fire and the approaches to be defended.

* The component is representative because it is a good example of a lunette which since its construction, around 1825, in the 20th century in two different phases was adapted to new circumstances and requirements and still displays various characteristics of these.

* The component is well preserved because the earthworks, accretions, masonry, ground plan, ditch and parts of the envelope have been largely preserved unchanged.