Vissersdijk 76 – 90 (2004)

Research Vissersdijk 76 – 90 in 2004

In May 2004, a trial trench investigation was carried out at the Vissersdijk in Gorinchem. The sole of a medieval dike and part of a late medieval moat were expected at the location. A trial trench of approximately 2 metres wide and 2 metres long was constructed at right angles to the Vissersdijk.

During the fieldwork it was suspected that the observed wet, unstable and rich soil structure could be explained by the filling of a ditch. This turned out not to be very likely during the elaboration. The cadastral minute clearly shows that the test trench has cut through a part of the bleaching fields of the city.

City waste

The waste layers were most likely created from the 16th^de century the site was used for dumping urban waste (dating of finds late 16^e-18^e century). The layered, relatively clean gray clay that can be seen on the west side of the profile could very well be the remains of the Vissersdijk, from where the waste was dumped. Among the finds was a large rare cloth seal (Gorcums double steel) with the city arms of Gorinchem (1612). Remains of a pottery kiln were also found.

Detail map by Joan Blaeu (1652)

Although on the map of Blue (ca 1650) it appears that around the middle of the 17^de century houses on the site that are not indicated on other city maps, nothing of this was found in the test trench. The reason for this has not become clear in the elaboration. Perhaps the 17^de century house remains have completely disappeared due to later construction activities. Another possibility is that Blaeu was aware of the construction plans for this area and had already drawn the houses to be built on his map, after which the plans were dropped at a later stage.

Large cloth seal Gorinchem 1612

On April 29, 2004, an extraordinary find was made during archaeological research at the Vissersdijk. It was a lead seal consisting of two round slabs of lead with a diameter of 72 mm, connected by a narrow strip of the same material. After being cleaned, the weight was 162 grams.

Cloth seal

On one of the discs the city coat of arms of Gorinchem can be seen with the edge inscription around it: GORCVMS DVBBEL STAEL 1612. A circle is visible between the portcullis and the crenellated crossbeams of the coat of arms. A hand (Antwerp) is depicted on the connecting tab. The other disc was folded double, but has since been made flat. This side has the same edge inscription: GORCVMS DVBBEL STAEL 1612. Within the edge inscription there are two holes with the word DVBBEL vertically between them and STAEL underneath. The connecting tab shows a house mark on this side.

Steel masters

On the back of the first mentioned disk there are two pairs of tabs, which when the two lead disks are folded in half fall through the holes of the other disk. By folding these tabs, as with a split pin, the two disks are connected to each other. We are dealing here with a cloth seal, intended to be attached by samplers to pieces of cloth by pressing the four tabs through the cloth and the holes of the other lead disk and bending them.

The treasurers of the Amsterdam cloth makers' guild, known as 'The Syndics'

In Amsterdam, excavations have brought to light many different types of cloth seals. The city's college of syndics is known for its painting by Rembrandt in the Rijksmuseum. A syndic was a sworn official who checked whether the fabrics offered by the cloth makers met the applicable standards for quality and colour. The colour was tested using a sample book. As proof of approval, the cloth was provided with a lead seal. A cloth seal was therefore a kind of quality mark for the colour and quality of the cloth. It is somewhat reminiscent of the lead seal of the former Gelderse sausage, but there it was mainly about the quality.

Lakenmarkt

This is probably how it went in Gorinchem. Already at a relatively early stage there was talk of cloth industry. It was the lord of Arkel himself, who established a special cloth market: the sixth annual mark is called a cloth mark, and is always on the Monday after St. Mary's Day, and will last for six days. The cloth market began on the Monday following 11 November and lasted six days. A charter for the Gorinchem cloth cutters or cloth buyers is known from 1392. This document stipulates, among other things, that the cloth cutters had to meet every Monday - market day - in the ghewanthuys to offer their goods for sale there. If they stayed at home, they were not allowed to sell their fabrics there. The presence of the weavers' guild, which is known to have existed as early as 1459, also indicates that there was a textile industry in the city, but Gorinchem did not become a centre of cloth-making, like Leiden and Haarlem.

Jacob Vervooren Jacobz

In 1619, the city council received a remarkable request from a resident of the city. That resident was Jacob Vervooren Jacobsz., who requested the exclusive right to the processing, dyeing and sealing the Gorchom lot, on which materials such as sedge, bomb, bazin and cotton are struck. This clearly concerns the sealing of substances with a lead cloth seal bearing the municipal coat of arms. According to the petition, the applicant wanted to provide work to serve the community of the city of Gorchom and the well-being of many households, but of course he wanted to benefit himself. Moreover, he asked permission to dry his edited boring and bombazine at the cemetery behind the town hall, so on the Groenmarkt.

Detail map by Joan Blaeu (1652) showing the framework on Bastion II

Ramen

The drying took place on wooden racks, on which the cloth was hung after fulling and dyeing, the so-called frames. In order to place a frame, Joost Herberensz. rented a piece of land at the foot of the rampart in 1602. For this he paid an annual sum of f 3 to the city treasurer. By fulling woollen fabrics, the fibres were worked together into a dense, even mass. This felting process was done by kneading or treading the fabric in a tub using caustic and degreasing substances. After the construction of a fulling mill in 1641 at the mouth of the Haven, this was done using stampers that were set in motion by wind power. On the well-known 17^de-century map of Blaeu, a window is drawn on Bastion 2, a rack for drying fabrics. It is not certain whether the window was actually there, because it could have been a freedom of the mapmaker. After all, the map of Wijdtmans served as an example and on that map there is no window to be seen on that bastion.

Dordrecht

In 1966 my contribution on the seals and coat of arms of Dordrecht appeared in the volume 'Zegels en wapen van steden in Zuid-Holland'. In it three cloth seals of Dordrecht are used as illustrations, one of which also has the words DVBBEL STAEL and the year 1674. The city accounts of Dordrecht regularly contain entries that relate to such seals. For example, in 1682 the stamp engraver Jacobus van Bueren received about cutting various large stamps or seals, in order to print and stamp the seals or steels into the sheets, which were hung on the sheets by the master stampers here, each according to its kind. It concerned an amount of £36. Such expenditure for stamps for Gorinchem cloth seals has not yet come to light. Previously, lead cloth seals had been found in archaeological excavations in Gorinchem, but they were much smaller in size and probably intended for a lower quality than double steel.

(AJ Busch in Oud-Gorcum Varia ; volume 21 ; number 58 ; 2004 ; p. 111 – 113. For the source reference, please consult the original article)