Wieringen
is not an island, but a former island. As early as in 1924 it got
connected to the mainland. When then the Wieringermeerpolder was
reclaimed in 1930 and the island only still bordered the sea on
its north side, it had actually become a part of the mainland. And
since the Afsluitdijk (the Zuyder Zee Dam) was completed in 1932
Wieringen has changed from a place where nobody went to a place
where many pass by but only few will make a stop.
Yet, Wieringen has retained enough of its island character to be
included on this site. Its scenery is quite different from that
of the surrounding polder. And it does indeed have a rich island history,
although less dramatic and appealing than that of, for instance, Schokland.
That's the reason why Schokland appears on Unesco's World Heritage
List, and Wieringen does not.
Wieringen's character shows two faces. For one thing, you might
call it a Wadden island, given its geographical location. And
indeed, when you are standing on top of the sea dike along the wad
it's easy to imagine that you are on, let's say, Texel. But
Wieringen lacks what has made those other Wadden islands so
immensely popular with the seaside visitors: the dunes and the
almost endless white North Sea beaches.
On the other hand, the fact that Wieringen was never overrun by
tourism may be precisely its major attraction. Because of this
circumstance it has more in common with the former Zuyder Zee
islands Marken, Urk and Schokland,
including their fate of not being an island anymore.
A tower of strength
Wieringen's
history goes back to deep into prehistoric ages. Archeological
evidence found on the island prove that as early as 35,000 years
ago there must have been people living here. But we must realize
that a map of this region at that time in history would look
completely different from what we see today. For the water, and
later on also human activity, have continuously been changing the
appearance of these lowlands by the sea.
With all these changes, Wieringen can be seen as a kind of 'calibration
point' in the region as this boulder clay bulge, that was pushed
up by the arctic glaciers during the last but one glacial period (till
130,000 B.C.), magnificently withstood all those changes, like a
tower of strength. Just like similar formations on Texel, Urk or
like the 'cliffs' of Gaasterland in southwest Frisia. That's the
reason why places like Wieringen were inhabited while the
surrounding lands were alternately either flooded by the sea or
swampy, impassable peat marshes.
It is a plausible assumption that the name 'Wieringen' is derived
from the old-Frisian word 'wird', which meant 'high grounds'. More
likely, at least, than any connection with the word 'wier' (seaweed),
although until as late as in the 17th century the use of seaweed
as building material for dikes was common practice in this region.
Precisely on Wieringen a specimen of such a 'wier' dike has been
preserved.
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Wieringen
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Shortly
before the beginning of our era the Romans appeared in this area.
However, they looked upon the river Rhine as the natural outer
border of their Empire and rarely ventured into the marshes north
of it. That was the territory of the Frisians, who extended their
power as the Roman influence was declining, until they finally
controlled the whole North Sea coastal region, from Belgium well
into northern Germany. Wieringen, rising high above the
surrounding marsh lands, became an important Frisian stronghold.
In the eighth century the Frisians, after having offered strong
resistance for years, were finally subjected by the Franks and the
Frisian territories were incorporated into the Carolingian empire.
The population was not granted much peace, as shortly after the
lowlands were afflicted by the Norsemen, who sometimes came for
trading, but mostly for robbing and plundering. Their raids went
on for more than a century, but became less violent as the Vikings
began to establish settlements in the area and mixed up with the
local population. Coins and adornments that were found here seem
to indicate that Vikings also lived on Wieringen, so the present
inhabitants probably have Frisian as well as Danish blood running
in their veins.
Wieringen
in the 'Digital Replica' of the Netherlands by TerraDesk.
In
the meantime a continuous struggle against the water had to be
fought. In the Middle Ages large parts of the low-lying peat bogs
in the area of the present province of Noord-Holland fell prey to
the sea in several floodings. During an extremely heavy storm tide
in 1170 the sea forced a breach between Wieringen and Texel,
forming the present Marsdiep inlet. Wieringen grew smaller and
smaller, until it was completely surrounded by water and had
become an island.
In the following centuries Wieringen, because of its isolated
position, was reduced to a forgotten corner of the country. Only
in the eighteenth century the island saw some revival. In their
Golden Age the Dutch built ever bigger merchant ships which,
because of their increasing draft, experienced more and more
problems to reach the harbors on the shallow Zuyder Zee. Therefore
they anchored in the roads of Den Helder to transfer their cargo
to smaller vessels from Texel and Wieringen, the so-called 'lighters',
which then transported the goods to their destination. The
prosperity was not for long; in 1825 the Noord-Hollands Kanaal, a
canal suitable for ocean-going vessels connecting Den Helder
directly with the port of Amsterdam, was opened. Lightering was no
longer necessary.
In
1806 a quarantine was established on the most eastern point of
Wieringen, for use by the Dutch Navy. It was to prevent that Dutch
sailors would bring all kinds of contagious diseases from their
distant journeys back to their home country. The place was ideal
for the purpose; isolated enough to reduce the risk of the
outbreak of epidemics, yet close to the major naval base at Den
Helder. The quarantine, with a 'Pesthuis' (Plague house) for the
nursing of sick sailors, was in use till 1876. After it was closed
a naval depot was established on the site, including a powder
magazine.
Here we see a remarkable similarity with island of Tiengemeten
described elsewhere on this site, which also had a quarantine and
a powder storage. Of course this is no coincidence. As a matter of
fact, both facilities require an isolated location, far from
inhabited areas. Incidentally, the Wieringen powder storage was
discontinued in 1925, when the preparations for the construction
of the Afsluitdijk came in full swing.
In
1920 the realization of the Zuyder Zee Project started, a project
that would change life on Wieringen dramatically. It also marked
the end of Wieringen as an island. As far back as the seventeenth
century plans, like those of Hendric Stevin in 1667, were
developed to tame the shallow but often very turbulent Zuyder Zee
and gain new land by draining parts of it. However, at that time
the skills and knowledge required to realize such plans were not
yet available.
But the Zuyder Zee did not stop taking its toll. In 1825 an
extremely violent northwesterly gale during spring tide wreaked
havoc in the area around the Zuyder Zee, claiming hundreds of
casualties. This disaster resulted into new plans, like that of
Kloppenburg and Faddegon in 1848. It envisioned the idea of
constructing a Zuyder Zee enclosure dam between the towns of
Enkhuizen and Stavoren in Frisia and draining the whole Zuyder Zee
south of that dam. Even more radical was the proposal made by the
hydraulic engineer Van Diggelen in 1849, which was based on
Stevin's idea of draining not only the whole of the Zuyder Zee but
also large parts of the Wadden Sea. Happily that proposal did not
make it!
More realistic was the plan developed in 1875 by another hydraulic
engineer, W.F. Leemans, which assumed draining of the southern
part of the Zuyder Zee only and building an enclosure dam between
Enkhuizen and Kampen. This plan however, although probably
feasible, failed to get the required political support and
therefore ended up somewhere in a desk drawer.
The basis for the Zuyder Zee Project as it has been actually
realized was laid with the proposals made by Cornelis Lely B Sc in
1893. He envisioned the damming of the Zuyder Zee with a 30-km
dike from Noord-Holland to Frisia via the island of Wieringen and
the construction of four large polders in the dammed inlet, with a
combined area of about 2.320 kmē. This concept would leave room
for a freshwater lake of substantial size, to receive and store
the water from the IJssel river prior to draining it off into open
sea via sluices in the enclosure dam. The plan was adapted in
1916. The changes included smaller polders and projected border
lakes between the polders and the old land, for a better water
management.
The fact that between 1891 and 1918 Lely participated in three
Dutch governments as the minister of Transport and Communications,
also responsible for the country's water management, has
contributed a lot to the fact that these plans did came to
realization. Although it would take years of political debate, a
war and another flood disaster before the point was reached that
the work could begin. The debate was always about the technical
and -in particular- the financial feasibility of Lely's proposals.
The war was the first World War, from 1914 till 1918. The
Netherlands did not participate in this war, but because of the
slumping of international trade during this period the
country began to face food shortages. Increase of the food
production in order to be better capable of filling local needs
became a hot issue. As a result Lely's proposals, envisioning a
considerable extension of the Dutch farmland area, gained priority.
But the immediate cause for taking up the realization of the Lely
plan was the flood disaster of January 1916. At dozens of places
around the Zuyder Zee the dikes broke and particularly the
Waterland area in the province of Noord-Holland and the island of
Marken were hit hard. In September of the same year Minister Lely
submitted a bill comprehending the damming and partial reclamation
of the Zuyder Zee based on his own proposals. On 13 June 1918 this
'Zuyder Zee Bill' was passed in parliament and the preparations
for its implementation could begin.
In 1920 work started on the damming of the Amsteldiep, the sound
that separated Wieringen from the Noord-Holland mainland. The 2.5
km-long dam, often referred to as the 'Kleine Afsluitdijk' (Little
Enclosure Dam') was completed in 1924 and ended Wieringen's status
as an island. After that the work on the 'real' Afsluitdijk began,
from the town of Den Oever on the easternmost point of Wieringen
to Zurich on the Frisian coast. The construction of this 32
km-long dam on the open sea was a masterly example of hydraulic
engineering as never shown before in the world. In 1932 the last
breach was closed and less than a year later the dike was opened
for traffic. The Zuyder Zee had become IJsselmeer (IJssel lake).
Simultaneously with the Afsluitdijk the Wieringermeerdijk, from
Den Oever southward to Medemblik, was built. After this dike had
been completed on 29 June 1929 two huge pumping stations,
'Leemans' at Den Oever and 'Lely' at Medemblik, began pumping out
the water from the newly created lake. In the next year the
Wieringermeerpolder stood clear of the water and by then the
island of Wieringen was incorporated again in the mainland, just
like it had been before the Middle Ages.
After the Wieringermeerpolder (nr. 1 - 200 kmē - 1930)
realization of the Noordoostpolder (nr. 2 - 280 kmē - 1942),
Oostelijk Flevoland (nr. 3 - 540 kmē - 1957) and finally
Zuidelijk Flevoland (nr. 4 - 430 kmē - 1968) followed (the
numbers refer to the chart alongside). Of the last Zuyder Zee
polder, the Markerwaard (nr. 6) the outer dike was completed in
1975, but so far the polder has not been realized yet. Discussions
about the advisability of its reclamation are going on for years.
Conservationists claim that the realization of the Markerwaard
polder is an outmoded idea and want to preserve the expanse of
open water formed by the present Markermeer. But planners consider
a (partially) realized Markerwaard polder an ideal location for a
new international airport, to replace Schiphol Amsterdam Airport
in the future. Time will tell whose ideas will win!
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A walk around on Wieringen
The
time that a trip to Wieringen was quite an undertaking is already
eighty years behind us. Nowadays you rush to it from Amsterdam via
the A7 motorway in barely half an hour, and at the Den Oever
junction you just take in a tip of the former island before
turning onto the Afsluitdijk towards Frisia. Of course I won't do
the latter today; I leave the A7 in time and drive into the town
of Den Oever.
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In Lely's original plan there was also a railway running along the Afsluitdijk, so that you would have been able to go by train to Wieringen, but that turned out to be too costly. Now there are the busy traffic routes A7 and the N99, which runs from Den Helder to Den Oever and cuts across the full length of the island. I park the car at the 'Basalt' restaurant by the Noorderhaven (Northern harbor), the starting point for my walk. |
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Den Oever has remained a real seaport town, with all the usual hustle and bustle. Since the Afsluitdijk was built it has even risen in significance and nowadays it can boast two important harbors: the Noorderhaven that gives direct access to the open sea, and the Zuiderhaven, at the opposite side of the dam, giving out into the IJsselmeer. The first is mainly the territory of the fishing boats, the latter is intended for yachting. |
The first part of my walk leads me along the Noorderhaven, through
an underpass of the A7 motorway and then along the Zuiderhaven (Southern
harbor) towards the 'Leemans' pumping station. I am walking
parallel with the motorway for about one and a half kilometer and
that's not really quiet. At the end of the Zuiderhaven I depart
from my planned route for a while and go left, to have a look at
the pumping station.
It doesn't look very impressive from the outside. Yet this engine,
together with its companion 'Lely' at Medemblik, drained a piece
of sea as large as 200 kmē between 1929 and 1930, and since then
it is taking care of the inhabitants of the Wieringermeerpolder in
keeping their feet dry. How necessary that is becomes clearly
visible at the lock beside the pumping station, where
vessels from the polder have to bridge a difference in height of
about five meters to get at the level of the IJsselmeer.
The water that is being pumped out of the polder is too salty to
be directly discharged into the IJsselmeer, as that would affect
the drinking-water supply for several millions of people. For this
reason, at the time that the station was being refurbished in
1995, a one kilometer-long underground tunnel was constructed that
drains the discharge water off into the Noorderhaven, at the 'salty
side' of the Afsluitdijk.
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The
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Via an underpass I cross the A7 again and walk into the
Waard-Nieuwland polder. This area was once part of Wieringen, but
it was submerged in the Middle Ages and reclaimed again halfway
the nineteenth century. Today, believe it or not, plans are being
discussed to give it back to the water, at least partially. They
imply the creation of a border
lake along the south side of the island, that is presently marked
by the narrow Amstelmeer canal. Its intended purposes are:
creating more room for recreation, improving water management and
bringing back Wieringen's island character. It is not yet sure
whether this plan will ever see realization, but I as far as I am
concerned, I hope it will!
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With the southern wind at my back it is hard to get rid of the constant roar of the motorway behind me. Only when I have passed the old dike and walk onto the old island the noise has faded away, but then the provincial highway N99 lies ahead. I cross this busy main road near the restaurant 'De Zingende Wielen' (The Singing Wheels), where the pea soup seems to be very good. On this sunny autumn day I don't really feel like trying it. |
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While I am walking to the north side of the island a fog patch descends upon me, obscuring the sun more and more. Ahead of me Oosterland is looming, dominated by the 12th-century St. Michael's church. It was to this little village that after the end of the First World War the German emperor's son, crown prince Friedrich Wilhelm, was deported. He lived here in exile till 1923 in the parsonage. |
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From Oosterland I walk in northwesterly direction to the hamlet of
Vatrop. According to tradition a monastery stood here in the early
Middle Ages that was connected to the St. Michael's church in
Oosterland by means of an underground corridor. That corridor
enabled the monks to safeguard their treasures in case of another
Viking raid. But never a trace was ever found, neither of the
monastery, nor of the underground corridor.
On this part of the route Wieringen shows its its most
characteristic side. The landscape is slanted and although the
differences in height are barely more than a few meters it is very
different from that of the surrounding polder land. Also because
of the mist that limits the view you can imagine to be in the
south of the province of Limburg rather than in the province of
Noord-Holland. This is the old island that, as a tower of strength,
has stood up the ages while the surrounding land was changing
continuously.
The mist muffles the sounds of the twenty-first century and
renders the scene a somewhat mysterious atmosphere, as if the
age-long history of this island is still there, very near, only
just beyond view. You would not be surprised, so the speak, if
suddenly a Viking gang or a couple of 'Sammelkes' would appear
from the mist. Of course that doesn't occur. In fact I don't come
across a single soul on the narrow road between Vatrop and Stroe
that bears the nice name of 'Bierdijkerveldweg' (Beerdiker's field
road).
The village of Stroe is situated on one of the highest places of
Wieringen and probably for that reason it is the oldest
settlements on the islands. Nowadays it is not much more than a
collection of farmhouses, but in the Middle Ages it is would have
been the place of an important Cistercian monastery and a major
spiritual center in the region. When the monks had to leave at the
time of the Reformation they would have fetched the golden clapper
from their monastery bell and buried it somewhere around here. But
also for this tradition no evidence has ever been found. And the
clapper, after which many have sought since, has never emerged.
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Sammelkes |
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It is certain that once there was a little church in Stroe, consecrated to St. Willibrord. It is assumed to be founded in the ninth century, but was broken down in 1878. The churchyard that belonged to it is still the. It's the first thing I see upon walking into Stroe, picturesquely situated under the trees. The inscription at the white-painted gate "Dust thou art and unto dust shalt thou return" is food for thought. |
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Beyond Stroe I turn right towards the northern coast and less than a quarter later I am standing on top of the dike, looking over the Wadden Sea. As far as the eye can see, at least, and that's not that far today, as the mist limits my view to about one hundred meters. But when I am on my way back to Den Oever the sun begins to dissolve the fog and after a few kilometers the Wad shows itself under a radiant sun in all its vast beauty. |
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On this part of the route Wieringen really shows its Wadden island
face. The sturdy dike, with the tide-land at one side and the
green polder at the other, could also be situated on Texel or
Terschelling. But on those islands you can always see, beyond the
polder, a glimpse of a line of dunes, with behind them the promise
of endless white beaches and the murmuring surf of the North Sea.
Wieringen lacks that all, and that's the reason why it is
different here. Not worse, but different.
Halfway to Den Oever I pass the bird lake near Vatrop. Here the
dike bends inland and the path continues through the land outside
the dike that is flooded with every high tide. My route
description tells me that it should be swarming here with dunlins,
shelducks, brent geese, whimbrels and bar-tailed godwits, while
there might also be a good chance of spotting the red-breasted
merganser, the pintail or some turnstones. Maybe it's the wrong
season, or maybe I'm a bad observer, but wherever I look, I don't
see them. Anyway, it does not spoil my pleasure at all.
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The way back to Den Oever along the dead straight dike is longer
than I expected. The masts of the ships in the outer harbor
can be seen from afar, but they come nearer at an agonizingly slow
pace. Yet it is never dull or boring. The spectacle of the vast
wad, now under a sheer blue sky, never fails to fascinate.
Wieringen and the sea, for centuries they were together and so it
will be, whatever the future may bring. For the time when an
engineer could wipe out an island with just a few lines on a map
is definitively behind us.
The red rooftops op the first houses of Den Oever are peeping
above the dike. I am almost back on my point of departure. While
walking along the harbor I can see, in the background, the
Afsluitdijk with the impressive concrete control portals of the
Stevin sluices. Thirty kilometers further on, at the Frisian end
of the dike, is an identical sluice complex. It is named after
another Dutch physician: Lorentz. Order and symmetry, that's the
way engineers like things.
I get into the car, knowing that Wieringen is just a bit too large
to be walked around in one day and that I by far haven't seen
everything of the island yet. Not the main town with that funny
name Hippolythushoef, popularly called 'Hippo' and therefore
reminding of a hippopotamus. Neither the small village of De
Haukes, where once the ferry from Holland arrived. Nor did I see
Westerklief, the hamlet where the Viking treasures were found. To
conclude, I will have to come back here once again!
More about Wieringen and related information
www.wieringen.nl
Official website of the Wieringen Municipality. Dutch language
only.
www.pagowirense.nl
Private website 'In Pago Wirense' (In the area of Wieringen) by
Jan-Simon Hoogschagen, with much historical and other information
on the island of Wieringen. Dutch and English language.
Recommended.
www.huisvandeaarde.nl
Website of the 'Huis van de Aarde', the museum for local geology
and archeology in Den Oever. Dutch and English language.
www.historischcentrumflevoland.nl
A digital exposition about the history of the Zuyder Zee
project on the website of the Social and Historical Center of
Flevoland. Dutch only.
www.maaslandcollege.nl
Thesis about the Zuyder Zee project on the website of the Maasland
College in Oss. Dutch and English language.
www.rdij.nl/rdij/ijsselmeergebied/afsluitdijk
Website about the Afsluitdijk by the Dutch Ministry of
Transport and Communication. Dutch and English language.
www.wieringerrandmeer.nl
Official website of the 'Projectbureau Wieringerrandmeer', with
information about the Wieringer Border Lake Project. Dutch only.
November
2003