Fort, vesting en -onderdelen, Utrecht

English translation

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Description

Cluster 47. Lunette fortification with earthworks reinforced by brick-faced walls, remains of gun emplacement positions, two wet ditches with envelopes and glacis, outer banks, with (diversion and maintenance) roads and with (formerly) boundary-marker-delineated zone (military state land).

NEW HOLLAND WATER LINE

Introduction

LUNETTE FORTIFICATION WITH EARTHWORKS REINFORCED BY BRICK-FACED WALLS, REMAINS OF GUN EMPLACEMENT POSITIONS, TWO WET DITCHES WITH ENVELOPES AND GLACIS, OUTER BANKS, WITH (DIVERSION AND MAINTENANCE) ROADS AND WITH (FORMERLY) BOUNDARY-MARKER-DELINEATED ZONE (MILITARY STATE LAND) of Lunette IV, as basic components of the southernmost of four mutually comparable defensive works. This concerns an earthen defensive work laid out around 1825, situated between Lunette III on the north side and the Inundation Canal 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-faced walls, nor the wet ditches are standard elements of lunette-shaped defensive works, but for these four lunettes at Utrecht they are indeed characteristic. On the front face the facing masonry rises from the ditch, which in turn is protected by an envelope. Outside the envelope, on the east side of the work, a still largely complete second ditch is present, of which only a small part is missing in the northeast. Outside this, remains of a second envelope/glacis. This layout, on the scale as encountered here, is rather rare. Outside the work, the openness of the former field of fire is still readily recognisable, as is the defensive function with respect to the accesses along the Houtense Vlakte.

Description

LUNETTE FORTIFICATION WITH EARTHWORKS REINFORCED BY BRICK-FACED WALLS, REMAINS OF GUN EMPLACEMENT POSITIONS, TWO WET DITCHES WITH ENVELOPES AND GLACIS, OUTER BANKS, WITH (DIVERSION AND MAINTENANCE) ROADS AND WITH (FORMERLY) BOUNDARY-MARKER-DELINEATED ZONE (MILITARY STATE LAND) of Lunette IV, dating from around 1825. Essentially a symmetrical five-sided earthwork with on the work some earth-covered components and (remains of) earth gun emplacement positions (emplacements). Around the earthwork a heavy brick-faced wall rising from the ditch, several metres high, which transitions into both the higher-built flanking casemates. Outside the ditch an earth rampart (envelope) running parallel with the contour of the work, with on the south and east sides of this a largely complete broad second ditch and beyond that traces of a second envelope/glacis. The two sharp angles at the gorge side (west) of the work are reinforced and accentuated with natural stone blocks. In the earthwork, small concrete defensive works were built in the Interwar period in several places. Some of these remained unfinished. The zone originally marked with boundary markers as such, over which the Ministry of War held authority, the Military State Land, with in it the envelope (glacis), in principle forms part of the protected layout. The boundary of the protected area partly adjoins the (former) Houtensepad – now a cycling route – which to the east of the work, shortly before the Second World War, was provided with a tank barrier, of which the remains are also protected.

Valuation

The LUNETTE FORTIFICATION WITH EARTHWORKS REINFORCED BY BRICK-FACED WALLS, REMAINS OF GUN EMPLACEMENT POSITIONS, TWO WET DITCHES WITH ENVELOPES AND GLACIS, OUTER BANKS, WITH (DIVERSION AND MAINTENANCE) ROADS AND WITH (FORMERLY) BOUNDARY-MARKER-DELINEATED ZONE (MILITARY STATE LAND) of Lunette IV at Utrecht is of general interest by reason of:

* Cultural-historical values as part of the New Holland Water Line as designed by C.R.T. Kraijenhoff and initially constructed 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 craft, which is based on: a. the system of inundation and access defence (19th century), b. the competition with increasingly powerful 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 layout from around 1825, which was adapted in the 1930s of the 20th century to the requirements of (then) modern defence and warfare.

* Archaeological values because of possibly preserved remains or traces in the soil of earlier construction phases, gun emplacement positions, trenches, earth-masonry and concrete works, watercourses and similar.

* Ensemble value and situational values through the location within the system of the New Holland Water Line in general, through the special position in association with 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 which since its construction, around 1825, has been adapted (in the 20th century) to new circumstances and requirements and still shows various characteristics thereof. The work represents rareness values because it is the only one of the four Utrecht lunettes provided with a double ditch.

* The component is well preserved because the earthworks, earthings, masonry works, the ground plan, both ditches and parts of the envelopes and glacis have been largely preserved unchanged.