Nederland: bruggen en sluizen

The first Kasteel Neerijnen (Castle Neerijnen) was probably built around 1350 and was originally called Klingelenburg . It was the first noble house in Neerijnen. The inhabitants of the castle carried the name “De Cock van Neerijnen”. The present castle was built around 1600 on the foundations of the older one. It was radically rebuilt in the 18th century and was extended in the late 19th century. Together with the Kasteel Waardenburg (PiP4) built in 1265, it forms one estate. From 1700 onwards both castles have always had the same owners. After the “De Cock” family, the estate was owned by various noble families. At the end of 1827, the estate came into the hands of “Frederik Willem Floris Theodorus baron van Pallandt”. This family owned the estate until 1971. On May 6 of that year the last baroness of “Pallandt van Neerijnen en Waardenburg” died. Three years later the estate came into the hands of the Stichting Gelders Landschap & Kasteelen , a foundation for the protection of nature and landscape in the province of Gelderland. From 1980 to 2019, Kasteel Neerijnen was in use as the town hall of the former municipality of Neerijnen. The castle garden - situated between the castle and the reformed church of Neerijnen - had been seriously neglected for a long time. Since 1996 this garden has been renovated and maintained by volunteers, taking into account the original layout. The garden consists of several parts, including a herb garden, vegetable garden, flower garden and a rose garden.

This drawbridge over the river Regge is called 'Giethemer Kerkbrug' and was built in 1907. People of the hamlet Giethmen used the bridge as a short cut, when going to church in Ommen (kerkbrug = church bridge).

Making a bike trip in North Holland, I came across the ‘Stolpbrug’ just outside the village of Sint Maartensbrug. At first glance it didn’t look like a bridge and is located somewhere ‘in the middle of nowhere’ over the ‘Grote Sloot’. The structure is quite unique and can only be used by pedestrians and cyclists. After some research I found that the ‘Stolpbrug’ is an artwork designed by Joke Zaal. The ‘bridge’ is a monument to mark the 400 years of existence of the ‘Zijpepolder’. The skeleton of the ‘Stolpbrug’ has the shape of a ‘stolpboerderij’ (haubarg), which is typical for this part of the province. Former Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands opened this ‘artwork bridge’ in May 1997. The ‘bridge’ is made of African azobé wood and has a height of thirteen metres. Except a bridge it is also a platform for cultural events and has a lookout with great views over the flat polders.

The ‘Parmabrug’ is a wooden drawbridge for pedestrians and cyclists across the canal between Sluis and Bruges in Belgium. The bridge is located just outside Sluis, 150 metres from the Belgian border. The canal is better known as ‘Damse Vaart’ or ‘Napoleonskanaal’. The canal was dug by Spanish war prisoners between 1812 and 1814 t on the orders of Napoleon Bonaparte. Napoleon wanted to create a connection between Bruges and the Western Scheldt and the North Sea along Sluis to Breskens. It should be used for military transports. After the defeat of Napoleon in 1815 the canal was never finished and stopped nearby the bridge; in 1854 it was extended to the centre of Sluis and two years later the canal opened to traffic. Nowadays the canal is used by pleasure boats.

The Tolbrug (Toll Bridge) near Veessen is part of a Dutch plan Ruimte voor de Rivier (Room for the River), intended to protect the areas surrounding the Dutch rivers for flooding. Better drainage of river water reduces the chance of flooding. Between the villages of Veessen and Wapenveld a channel has been created between two dikes to give the river IJssel more room to flood safely. The bridge - connecting the areas on both sides of the dikes, even is the channel full of water - has 60 flaps, which will be opened during extremely high tide. The river water then flows into the area between the two dikes up to the outlet at Wapenveld. If the channel fills up, this temporarily lowers the level in the IJssel. The Tolbrug - 800 meters long - is named after the Tolhuis (Tollhouse) that used to stand on the current spot of the driveway to the bridge.

As early as the 17th century, there was a wooden drawbridge across the Vecht. Later, it was replaced by an iron one. This iron bridge was blown up by the Germans at the beginning of May 1945, just before the end of World War II. In 1949, a new bridge was opened: a second-hand double drawbridge dating from 1888, which was transported in sections over water from Weesperkarspel to Vreeland. The Vreeland barrel factory Van Leer financed a large part of the costs. That's why the bridge was named the Van Leerbrug . In 1986, the bridge was replaced by the current bridge, which retained its name.

Drawbridge in the village of Zuiderwoude; a small settlement with about 300 inhabitants, which is located less than 10 km’s from Amsterdam. The wooden bridge, over a stream called ‘Zwet’, dates back to the Middle Ages and was restored in 1983.

The Katerveersluizen is a complex of two locks at the mouth of the Willemsvaart in the river IJssel. Their construction was made possible by a major financial contribution from King Willem I, to whom the canal owes its name. The complex of locks and drawbridges forms part of a sconce, which was part of Zwolle's defence line, constructed in 1598. A small lock with a passage width of about 6 metres was built in 1818-1819. In the second half of the 19th century, this lock proved to be too small for the increasingly larger ships. Therefore, in 1873, a new larger lock was built with a width of 12 metres. At the same time the bridges - including the double iron drawbridge shown in the photo - were built over the locks. In 1964, the Zwolle-IJsselkanaal was opened, so the locks are no longer used for boating.