Fort, vesting en -onderdelen, Lunet II Utrecht (Bunnik 26)

English translation

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Description

Cluster 45. Lunette Installation.

NEW HOLLANDIC WATERLINE

Introduction

LUNETTE INSTALLATION WITH BRICK-CLAD EARTHWORK FORTIFICATIONS, REMAINS OF GUN EMPLACEMENTS, WET DITCH WITH OUTER BANKS, WITH (DIVERSION AND MAINTENANCE) ROADS AND ENVELOPE / GLACIS AND WITH (FORMERLY) BOUNDARY-MARKED ZONE (MILITARY STATE LAND) of Lunette II, as basic components of the second-most northerly of four mutually comparable defence works. This concerns an earth fortification, constructed in 1822 and 1823, entirely faced with masonry, located between the Koningsweg on the northern side and the railways to Arnhem and 's-Hertogenbosch on the southern side. Characteristic of this type of works are the closed front side executed with two faces and the open gorge side. The brick-clad masonry walls, nor the wet ditches are standard elements in lunette-shaped defence works, but for these four lunettes in Utrecht they are indeed characteristic. On the front side 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 is still clearly recognisable, as is the defensive function in relation to the accesses via the Koningsweg, the Houtense Vlakte and the railways.

Description

LUNETTE INSTALLATION WITH BRICK-CLAD EARTHWORK FORTIFICATIONS, REMAINS OF GUN EMPLACEMENTS, WET DITCH WITH OUTER BANKS, WITH (DIVERSION AND MAINTENANCE) ROADS AND ENVELOPE / GLACIS AND WITH (FORMERLY) BOUNDARY-MARKED ZONE (MILITARY STATE LAND) of Lunette II, dating from the period 1822-1823. Essentially a five-sided, symmetrical earthwork with on the work several earth-covered components and (remains of) earth slopes and gun emplacements. Around the earthwork a heavy brick-clad masonry wall rising from the ditch, several metres high, which transitions into both the higher-built flank casemates. The two sharp angles at the gorge side (west) of the work are reinforced and accentuated with natural stone blocks. Towards the end of the Interwar period, two incomplete Group Shelters Type P were built in the earthwork on the northern half. The work may contain remains or traces of structures, building phases, trenches, gun installations, etc. The zone originally marked with boundary markers as such, over which the Ministry of War held sway, the Military State Land, in which the envelope / glacis, in principle forms part of the protected installation.

Valuation

The LUNETTE INSTALLATION WITH BRICK-CLAD EARTHWORK FORTIFICATIONS, REMAINS OF GUN EMPLACEMENTS, WET DITCH WITH OUTER BANKS, WITH (DIVERSION AND MAINTENANCE) ROADS AND ENVELOPE / GLACIS AND WITH (FORMERLY) BOUNDARY-MARKED ZONE (MILITARY STATE LAND) of Lunette II in Utrecht is of general interest because of:

* Cultural-historical values as part of the New Hollandic Waterline as designed by C.R.T. Kraijenhoff and initially 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 art, which is based on: a. the system of inundation and access defence (19th century), b. the race with increasingly strengthening 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 1822-1823, where at the end of the 1930s a start was made with adaptation to the requirements of (then) modern defence and warfare.

* Archaeological values because of possibly soil-embedded remains or traces of earlier building phases, gun emplacements, trenches, earth and masonry works and the like.

* Ensemble value and situational values through the location within the system of the New Hollandic Waterline in general, through the special position in relation to three other lunettes and through the recognisable relationship with the field of fire and the accesses to be defended.

* The component is representative because it is a good example of a lunette that since its installation, around 1825, has (in the 20th century) been adapted to new circumstances and requirements and still displays various characteristics thereof.

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