The
80-year war between the Northern Netherlands and Spain was the reason for the
construction of the bastion Damme. Between 1615 and 1620, the Spaniards
erected a new defence girdle around the town in the form of a 7-star.
Damme was important to the Spanish because of it's position on the net of
canals, because it was close to the hostile town of Sluis and because it
was ideally positionned to defend Bruges. The mouth of the canal the
"Lieve" (linking Ghent with Damme) was diverted inside the town and
entered Damme now via a covered watergate (see Kazemat).
That gate was used lateron as a storage for ammunition and still can be
seen. Due to the construction of these new town walls, several old
buildings (such as the old city gates (see Brugse
Poort)) had to be pulled down. From that moment on, the town could
only be entered via two new gates. A military governor ruled the town (or
better: fortress) and Damme would remain a military stronghold until 1760.
In 1786, the grounds of the bastion were sold publically.
The
double defence girdle is still very well visible, though suffered a bit from the
influences of nature. A large part of the walls is owned by the vzw
Natuurpunt (an organisation for nature preservation). The object is to
entirely restore the walls around Damme. In 2001, a part of the girdle was
restored and during the excavations, the remains of an old construction were
found (see Brugse Poort). The walls have now
become a nature reserve where several (some very rare) species of plant- and
animalwildlife have found an ideal habitat. The
reserve measures about 55 ha. A walk alongside the walls is more than
worth doing.
Below digital pictures can give you a
better idea on how the defence walls around Damme would have looked like in
1650.
1.
field
2. glacis
3. ravelijnsditch
4. ravelijn
5. main ditch
6. underwall
7. main wall or bastion
8. center of town
A. contrescarp
B. escarp
C. covered road
The
80-year war between the Northern Netherlands and Spain was the reason for the
construction of the bastion Damme. Between 1615 and 1620, the Spaniards
erected a new defence girdle around the town in the form of a 7-star.
Damme was important to the Spanish because of it's position on the net of
canals, because it was close to the hostile town of Sluis and because it
was ideally positionned to defend Bruges. The mouth of the canal the
"Lieve" (linking Ghent with Damme) was diverted inside the town and
entered Damme now via a covered watergate (see 
The
double defence girdle is still very well visible, though suffered a bit from the
influences of nature. A large part of the walls is owned by the vzw
Natuurpunt (an organisation for nature preservation). The object is to
entirely restore the walls around Damme. In 2001, a part of the girdle was
restored and during the excavations, the remains of an old construction were
found (see
1.
field