Keizerstraat 6 | city wall (1997)

Remains of a medieval fortress wall

The reason for the investigation was the demolition and restoration of two buildings on the east side of Keizerstraat (numbers 6 and 8). During the investigation, a large building fragment of a savings arch and the bricked underside of the city wall were exposed. On 31 January 1997, PM Floore, commissioned by the municipality of Gorinchem, carried out an emergency archaeological investigation into a remnant of the late medieval city wall from the 15th century.^de-16^de century.

The excavation aimed to record the remains of the city wall within the limited research time in order to document and measure the location and construction of the late medieval fortifications of Gorinchem. The excavated wall remains were covered again after study.

Research design and research question

The investigation of the city wall on Keizerstraat was an emergency excavation. Furthermore, the soil contamination with oil etc. caused a considerable limitation of the area that could be excavated due to the dumping of the excavated soil that had to be kept separate from the contaminated soil. As a result, it was only possible to dig between the two buildings Keizerstraat 4 and 8. During the investigation it appeared that the adjacent plots were not piled, in order to limit damage to the still inhabited building Keizerstraat 4, the depth of the excavation pit remained limited.

The city map of Jacob van Deventer (ca. 1558) shows the city wall in reasonable detail. The map shows a tower at approximately the location on Keizerstraat where research was possible. So in addition to a possible part of the city wall, the foundation of a wall tower could also be expected. Although more buildings in the corner between Keizerstraat and Balensteiger were demolished and there were theoretical possibilities for a limited research of the medieval city moat, soil contamination limited the research on the rear terrain.

Area Keizerstraat, detailed map Jacob van Deventer

The quality of the wall remains on site was examined, how the wall was constructed and whether a tower was present on the site to be investigated. An attempt was also made to determine whether the wall immediately bordered the moat. The dating of the building also had to be determined.

Fieldwork execution

The municipality of Gorinchem made an excavator available on Friday 31 January 1997. With the excavator the area could be cleaned up to the level where the wall remains were visible in the ground. With the machine the building remains were further exposed and measured, drawn and photographed. Detailed photos were taken. An actual excavation was not carried out.

Results

The remains were located at 4.60 m from the building line on Keizerstraat. The top of a large fragment of masonry was located at a depth of 0.35 m -NAP. This fragment appeared to be a tilted remnant of a loose piece of wall with the beginning of two arches. The fragment was 1.65 meters high, 1.30 meters wide with 22 layers of brick and leaned over in an easterly direction. As far as could be determined, the fragment was 80 cm thick, but a greater thickness cannot be ruled out. The brick size was approximately 25 x 12 x 6 cm. (with a variation of half a cm.). The arch fragment appeared to rest on a layer of clean gray-brown clay with sandy clay underneath with brick rubble that connected to a brick cladding constructed from a layer of brick with the same size as the arch fragment. The cladding ran diagonally downwards with a length of 1.80 meters to a depth of 3.45 m -NAP. At this level, the cladding appears to make a bend and continue horizontally in a westerly direction. It was not possible to determine how far the horizontal cladding extends. The height from the bottom of the fragment to the horizontally extending part is 1.45 metres. The total width of the brick structures is at least 2.60 metres. It cannot be ruled out that in an easterly direction, more towards Keizerstraat, there will still be traces of the inside of the wall. However, this part could not be excavated due to the risk of subsidence for the adjacent house on Keizerstraat no. 4 and a polluted concrete grease pit of the garage company that was previously located on the plot.

The brickwork bond of the arch section appeared to be a half-brick bond, in contrast to the brick cladding, which consisted of a standing bond. The direction of the remains found indicates a direction of the city wall that is somewhat convergent with Keizerstraat and runs SSW-NNE. The wall remains found have been left in place and covered.

Evaluation results

On the plot Keizerstraat 6 remains of the late medieval city wall of Gorinchem were found, consisting of a loose wall remainder with two arch sections and an underlying covering of a raised earthen rampart or embankment. Whether the arch fragment originally belonged to this location could not be determined, but it is not unlikely. The arch fragment is not thick and appears to be part of the inside or the support of the parapet. There is no difference in brick size between the covering of the rampart and the arch fragment, but there is a difference in masonry bond. It is not certain whether this indicates a chronological difference.

The excavated masonry was too small in size to be able to determine with certainty whether the wall was rebuilt, supplemented or reinforced later. The mixed sand and clay layers in which the brick remains were found were possibly applied after the demolition of the wall and the raising of the city district at the end of the sixteenth century. In any case, no pottery older than late 16^de- asked 17^de century stoneware (some small fragments of Raeren and Westerwald stoneware and small shards of red glazed earthenware that could not be determined further). The rising wall of the city wall was completely demolished, this will most likely have taken place around 1580 at the time of the construction of the new city wall and expansion. Whether a city moat bordered the wall immediately on the east side of the wall could not be determined in the too small work pit. The pit was deepened to see whether there was a remnant of a wet horizon or a moat filling, but at 3.45 metres -NAP the excavator came across an intact horizontally running masonry in half-brick bond that extended to the east. The end of this masonry was not found. All bricks of both the cladding and the arch fragment had the same size and a volume of approx. 1700 - 2000 cm³. The brick size is significantly smaller than the size used for the castle of the lords of Arkel was used and that a size of approx. 30 x 15 x 7 cm (volume 2700 – 3200 cm³, dating around 1267). The demolition material was certainly not used for the city wall. Most likely, newly produced brick was used for the city wall. If the start of the construction of the wall corresponds with the acquisition of city rights in 1382 and the remains found date from the oldest and perhaps also the only construction phase of the city wall, then one may cautiously assume that the brick format used can possibly be dated to the end of the 14^de century. It is remarkable that for the foundations of the house of Paffenrode, constructed with clearly reused demolition stone, which was excavated in August/​September 1997, almost exclusively the large brick format that was used for the construction of the castle on the Wijdschild was used and that the format of the city wall on the Keizerstraat is missing. One explanation could be that demolition material was used from other older buildings such as the castle De Blauwe Toren which in turn was perhaps partly built of reused brick from the castle of the Arkels.

Reconstruction of found masonry, drawing by Pieter Floore

Although very hypothetical, a possible reconstruction is given above. The research on Keizerstraat was very limited and future soil research can probably provide more certainty about the construction of the city wall.

Conclusions and recommendations

The wall remains found on Keizerstraat are part of the city wall that surrounded the eastern part of the city on the east bank of the Linge. The wall was possibly built in or immediately after 1382 and demolished around 1580. Probably nothing was found of the outer wall or the actual city wall. The fragment with spar arches is possibly part of the inner support of the battlement. A wall tower assumed to be at this location was not found.

The excavated remains were too limited to allow for a true reconstruction, nor did the remains provide much support regarding the construction history of the wall. One can cautiously assume that the brick format used dates from the end of the fourteenth century. In any case, the demolition material from the city wall was not used for the construction of the Van Paffenrode house at the end of the 16^de century. If an opportunity arises in the future to excavate a section of the city wall, this should not be neglected. The quality of the remains preserved in the ground at Keizerstraat was high and a more extensive investigation can provide more certain information about the construction of a building that the city of Gorinchem enjoyed during its greatest heyday in the 14^de in 15^de century gave it such a defining appearance.

Gorinchem from the east, anonymous (1568)

City rights

Even before Gorinchem was finally allowed to call itself a city, a process that took place in the course of the fourteenth century and was confirmed by the city rights of Otto van Arkel from 1382, there was probably already a defensive structure around the settlement. The beginning of the construction of city walls and defenses is often seen as a result of the gift of the official written city rights. That this does not always have to be the case is shown by the development of the city defenses of Gorinchem. In the second half of the thirteenth century, the Lords of Arkel owned with their castle in the Wijdschild a powerful means of defense. The trading settlement of Gorinchem, barely a kilometer away at the mouth of the Linge, was given a fortification. Stamkot reports in his “History of the city of Gorinchem” that the Korten- and Langendijk formed part of the eastern city wall that was already in the 3^e quarter of the 13^e century. It was also during this period that the large embankment of the Alblasserwaard took shape. It cannot be ruled out that the southeastern corner of this part of the encircling dike, where the old Gorinchem was located, was used by the residents as the start of the construction of a rampart. The Linge at the location of the current Lingehaven functioned as a moat on the east side. Such a dual function of the ramparts against both the water and a possible enemy was not unusual. To this day, the city walls of Gorinchem still function as a water barrier.

According to Stamkot, the western rampart was laid out generously by possibly keeping to the existing parcelling during construction. In his opinion, the name Revetsteeg refers to the city wall and the disappeared Belfortsteeg on the Molenstraat would indicate a wall tower. The Wolferense gate stood at the end of the Molenstraat until 1412. It is not entirely clear what we should imagine with the oldest city defences. In all probability, the oldest system of moats and earthen ramparts was expanded over time with wooden gates and a connecting palisade. At the end of the 14^de century, these wooden constructions were replaced by stone walls and ramparts.

Gorinchem was no exception as a place that already built a kind of defensive wall before the city rights were obtained. The bourgeoisie in the emerging cities in the late Middle Ages and also the places that had aspirations in that direction tried after a while to sail their own economic and military strategic course that was determined as little as possible by the nobility. Taking an advance on the own regulation of the city protection was also part of that.

Forward defensive work

But it is possible that Gorinchem was walled precisely because of its proximity to the castle of the lords of Arkel. Gorinchem was after all located on the other side of the Linge, on the side of Holland and if it remained undefended, it formed a problem for the road over the Linge. Perhaps it was self-evident that the city expanded to the eastern bank of the Linge estuary that took place around 1350. The Linge estuary was now well protected and as the nearest bridgehead to the west, the place probably served as an advanced defensive work of the castle of the lords of Arkel.

Brick ovens

In any case, the city walls will have started on 11 November 1382, the time that Otto van Arkel granted Gorinchem city rights. In 1388, a very large city fire took place, in order to rebuild the city, the two Gorcummers Willem Pekeric and Jan Donkaart set up several brick kilns near the Linge. It can be assumed that bricks were also produced there for the city wall. After the power of the Arkels was finally broken in the Arkel wars and Gorinchem passed into Dutch hands, the centre of power shifted from the Wijdschild to the city of Gorinchem. The Dutch count Willem VI took possession of the city. He had the castle on the Wijdschild demolished and built a smaller castle in the city. Van Goch suspected that the building was somewhere at the intersection of the Revetsteeg (formerly Krijtstraat) and the Molenstraat. Around 1460, Charles the Bold, before he became Duke of Burgundy, had a large castle built, which Blauwe Toren (Blue Tower) was named after the grey-blue bluestone that was apparently frequently used in the building. Until the end of the sixteenth century, the distinguished Blue Tower played a very important role as the main stronghold in the medieval city wall.

In the 15^de century, the eastern side of the city wall was almost the border with the Duchy of Gelre and the Burgundian Netherlands. The entire wall consisted of a thick, simple brick wall with a battlement and at regular intervals a semicircular tower that protruded into or against the wide city moat. The wall is depicted in a number of images that all originated before 1580. For example, a view of the wall can best be seen in an anonymous painting from 1568 in the Gorcum Museum on which the eastern side of the city is depicted from the Dalemse Dijk. Existing examples of such medieval walls are rare today. The best comparison is the city ​​wall of the town of Elburg in Gelderland, where a late medieval wall with wall towers still completely surrounds the town.

The simple medieval city wall surrounded Gorinchem from around 1382 to around 1580. What happened in the two hundred years that the wall protected Gorinchem is not well known. For example, it is unknown how the brick wall was built, whether it was ever replaced and drastically improved. Nor is it known where exactly the city moat was located and how wide it was. Archaeological research may provide an answer to these questions.