Dalemwal | Bastion IX (2002)

The research location with the two test trenches in the foreground

On October 28, 2002, municipal archaeologist Pieter Floore, assisted by Jeroen Vaars, Hollandia Archaeologists, an archaeological observation carried out on the site of Bastion IX on the Dalemwal. This rampart, together with the Dalempoort, forms part of the 16s^e century, the fortress of Gorinchem was built in response to the Spanish threat. 

Around 1600 the fortress of Gorinchem was completely adapted to the requirements of the warfare of that time and together with Loevestein and Woudrichem it formed an important fortress triangle for the defense of Holland. The fortress remained in use until the beginning of the 20^e century, until changes in the methods of warfare and defense put an end to the centuries-old military significance of fortified towns such as Gorinchem.

Powder House

The central question of the archaeological research on the site of Bastion IX was to what extent the remains of the gunpowder house as shown on Blaeu's map from around 1640 had been preserved and whether there might be other (unknown) remains of buildings from this period. In particular, remains of buildings from the 19^e century could be expected here. For example, a gunpowder laboratory was built on the south side of the bastion in 1864. The existing archaeological remains would be destroyed by the planned new construction, which made an archaeological investigation necessary.

Detail of the city map of Gorinchem by Joan Blaeu (1649), right Bastion IX

Research

The observation focused on two trenches that had been dug on the site of a disappeared association building. Each trench was approximately 40 metres long and 1.25 metres wide. The light brown clay of the embankment was found directly under the 30 to 40 centimetre thick top layer.

The clay was clean and here and there were shells of freshwater mussels present. A similar clay package had already been found and examined during earlier research on Bastion V and Bastion VIII and has a thickness of several meters. This clay probably originates from the area with clean clay deposits directly along the Merwede. A clay pipe, three pipe stems, four fragments of red-baked pottery and a piece of faience were collected from the top of the clay. The pipe dates between 1660 and 1690, the other finds can be placed in the last quarter of the 17^de century. This indicates that the ramparts were raised during this period and the ramparts from the 16s^de century must have been lower.

The research location with the two work pits. In orange the disappeared association building

The traces visible in the clay layer consisted of holes, post holes – often with the remains of the posts still in them – and break-out grooves, created during the demolition of masonry. In pit 2 a long north-south running wall was found that was probably part of the recently demolished building of the music association. The east-west oriented wall found in pit 1 must also probably be attributed to this. The other traces found can be found in the 19^de and/or 20th century, a large part will be related to the construction and demolition of the association building. During the construction of this, as is still visible on the resulting steep side of the embankment, about one and a half meters of clay slid off the embankment. With this excavation and subsequent construction and demolition of the association building, the remains of the gunpowder house as well as other archaeological traces have completely disappeared.

Conclusion

The research has shown that the excavation of part of the embankment and the subsequent construction and demolition of the association building have revealed the possible remains of the 17^de century gunpowder house and any other archaeological traces have disappeared.