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Canals and Polders

Journal of Samuel Kiechel
31 July 1585

From Amsterdam to Haarlem

“On the afternoon of the 31st, the last day of the month, I walked to the gate of Amsterdam, where the road to Haarlem begins. Carts frequently stop there to pick up passengers. Along with four other people, I hired a carter, and we drove to Haarlem, which is about three miles from Amsterdam.“

Die Reisen des Samuel Kiechel aus drei Handschriften, K. D. Haszler (ed.), Stuttgart 1866, p. 16-17; Bayerische Staatsbibliothek.

Dykes, Polders and Canals

After a brief stay, Samuel Kiechel left Amsterdam on the afternoon of 31 July. He took a cart for the short trip to Haarlem. The road to Haarlem ran along dykes that protected the polders from the IJ River.

A polder is land reclaimed from the sea or former marshland. Water is drained using canals and pumps, while dykes prevent flooding of the reclaimed area. The Dutch started land reclamation in the twelfth century and gradually developed an advanced system of dykes and canals to produce fertile farmland.

Drawing of the canals and polders that define the Dutch landscape.

Polder Landscape

Windmills are a familiar feature of the Dutch landscape. Besides their usual role in grinding flour, they were also built along polders to serve as wind-powered pumps. Initially, these windmills had large waterwheels. The wind turned the waterwheel through gears, moving water from the polder into a drainage canal. Often, a single mill was not enough, so multiple mills were built. Eventually, more efficient Archimedean screws replaced waterwheels for this task.

Print depicting many people repairing a damaged dyke.

Repair work at a Dyke

As the drainage system became more complex, water authorities (water boards) were established at local and regional levels. They first appeared in the twelfth century to oversee local communities and landowners responsible for maintaining the polders, dykes and canals. Tenants of individual plots were responsible for maintaining the section of the polder bordering their land. More extensive and expensive projects, such as polder mills and sluices, were managed by these water boards. From the late Middle Ages, the boards expanded their authority and became more directly involved in water management.

A set of maps from 1615 shows the complexity of the polder system and numerous canals in the region. These maps depict the Hoogheemraadschap van Rijnland, the oldest water authority in the Netherlands. Established in 1245, its jurisdiction covered the area around the Oude Rijn, a river in the Rhine delta, and extended as far as Amsterdam and Haarlem. The maps show not only the canals and polders, but also the towns and cities in great detail. They even enable us to trace Samuel Kiechel’s route from Amsterdam to Haarlem.

The Route to Haarlem

Kiechel left Amsterdam in a cart with some other passengers. The cart had waited at the Haerlemmer Poort, the city gate where the road to Haarlem began. The road ran along the dyke separating the IJ from the land to the south. It passed through Sloterdijk (“Slooterdyck”), a new village established when the dam across the Slochter River (“Sloohter“) was built in the fifteenth century.

Map showing the canals and polders south of the IJ and the road alongside them.

Part of the map of the Hoogheemraadschap van Rijnland showing the polders along the IJ, Sloterdijk and the Slochter River

The road continued along the IJ to Spieringhorn (“Spierincx Hoorn“), then bent southward, where a dam and sluices separated the Haarlemmermeer from the IJ. The Haarlemmermeer had been a large, shallow lake drained in the nineteenth century.

Map showing the road to Haarlem passing the sluices that linked Haarlemmermeer and the IJ.

Polders along the IJ in the north and Haarlemmermeer in the south.

The cart followed the road across the sluices and then turned northwest towards the Spaarne River. However, it most likely left the Haarlemmer Dyck halfway towards the river and rolled down the “Kerck Wech“ towards Penningsveer (“Pennincx Veer“). At this location, a ferry transported carts and travellers across the Liede River. From the ferry, it was only a short distance to Haarlem. The gate through which Kiechel entered Haarlem, the Amsterdamse Poort, still stands today.

Map showing the landscape around Haarlem and the road from Amsterdam.

Haarlem, the canals and the polders around it. The road from Amsterdam comes from the east (the black arrow on the right side).

The area Samuel Kiechel had travelled through has undergone significant changes compared to the map over the past five hundred years. The first changes occurred just forty-six years after Kiechel’s visit. In 1631, the Haarlemmertrekvaart, a canal between Amsterdam and Haarlem, was constructed to facilitate the easier transport of goods and people between the two cities. As a result, the road Kiechel used became obsolete. At the site where Kiechel’s cart crossed the dam between the Haarlemmermeer and the IJ, the village of Halfweg was established, aptly named as it served as the halfway point along the newly built canal.

The most significant transformation of the area occurred in the nineteenth century, with the drainage of the Haarlemmermeer and the construction of the canal connecting the IJ to the North Sea. The new Noordzeekanaal offered a direct route from Amsterdam to the sea. The area west of the city, where the old road to Haarlem used to pass through, was incorporated into Amsterdam’s extensive harbour.

In Haarlem

Landscape view with fields, meadows and trees in the foreground, and Haarlem in the distance.

View of Haarlem

Kiechel’s cart arrived in Haarlem in the evening. Our traveller noted that Haarlem is not very large but well fortified. He learnt that, thanks to its defences, the city had resisted a siege by the Spanish under the Duke of Alba for several months. Ultimately, however, famine forced the city to surrender, leading to its subsequent sacking by Spanish troops.

Print depicting the Siege of Haarlem with Spanish troops amassed in the foreground.

Siege of Haarlem, 1572/73

The event Kiechel mentioned took place twelve years earlier. In 1572, a Spanish army commanded by Fadrique Álvarez de Toledo (1537-1585), the 4th Duke of Alba, besieged Haarlem after the city had joined the Dutch rebellion. The siege lasted from December 1572 to July 1573. As Kiechel noted, the city’s surrender was due to famine. However, reports of the sacking of Haarlem may not have been entirely accurate. Citizens were allowed to pay off the Spanish. But the city’s garrison was massacred. Defenders and sympathisers of the Dutch rebels faced beheading or drowning in the Spaarne River. The Spanish occupation of the city lasted four years, and they left Haarlem in 1577.

A bird’s-eye view shows Haarlem and its surrounding countryside from the north. A wall and moat defend the city, with the Spaarne River flowing through Haarlem, providing water to the moat. Some buildings are presented at a slightly larger scale and are clearly labelled with their names. The countryside around Haarlem is filled with fields, and on the left side of the image is a large body of water called “T’Meer” (the sea), which refers to the Haarlemmermeer.

View of Haarlem and the surrounding landscape.

Bird’s-eye view of Haarlem, 1575

According to Kiechel, Haarlem boasts a large, beautiful church with a high vaulted ceiling. This architectural masterpiece left a strong impression on our traveller, who noted that it would be challenging to find a church with arches of similar dimensions.

In the centre of Haarlem, a prominent church is depicted and labelled as “S. Margrieten” in the view. Based on its location within the city and the surrounding buildings, it is the Grote Kerk or St.-Bavokerk. The reason the name “S. Margrieten” appears on the map remains unclear. However, minor errors in the Civitates Orbis Terrarum are not uncommon.

The St.-Bavokerk was originally constructed as a Catholic cathedral in the fifteenth century. With the arrival of the Protestant Reformation, it was transformed into a Protestant church. St.-Bavo’s is the church featuring the high vaulted roof that Kiechel described. Several contemporary drawings and paintings of its interior exist to support his observation.

Painting of the interior of St.-Bavokerk. The striking arches and the organ of the church are visible.

Inside St.-Bavokerk, Haarlem

After spending a night in Haarlem, Samuel Kiechel left the city on 1 August. He went to one of the city’s gates, where carters had gathered. Kiechel paid for a seat on a cart and, after attending church, departed.

Illustrations & References

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