The Leidsevaart (also known as Leidse trekvaart, Dutch for "Leiden's Pull-Canal") is a
canal
Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flo ...
between the cities of
Haarlem and
Leiden
Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration wi ...
in the Netherlands. It was dug in 1657, making it one of the oldest canals in the Netherlands. It was the major means of transport between Leiden and Haarlem for almost two centuries until the rail connection was established in the 19th century. The original stops along the railway mirrored the toll bridges of the canal.
The canal runs through or borders the municipalities of Haarlem,
Heemstede
Heemstede () is a town and a municipality in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. It is the fourth richest municipality of the Netherlands.
History
Heemstede formed around the Castle ''Heemstede'' that was built overlooking the ...
,
Bloemendaal
Bloemendaal () is a municipality and a town in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. Bloemendaal is, together with Wassenaar, the wealthiest place in the Netherlands.
In October 2015, after persistent problems with the local governa ...
,
Hillegom
Hillegom () is a town and municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. Hillegom is part of an area called the Duin- en Bollenstreek ("Dune and Bulb Region"). As such, a large portion of the local economy was traditio ...
,
Noordwijkerhout
Noordwijkerhout () is a town and former municipality in the western part of the Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. The town is currently part of the municipality of Noordwijk and lies in the bulb-growing region (the Duin- en Bollenstre ...
,
Lisse
Lisse () is a town and municipality in the province of South Holland in the Western Netherlands. The municipality, which lies within the Duin- en Bollenstreek, covers an area of of which is water. Its population was in . Located within the mun ...
,
Teylingen
Teylingen () is a municipality in the Western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. It was created on 1 January 2006, through the amalgamation of Sassenheim, Voorhout and Warmond. It is named after Teylingen Castle, located in Voorhout. ...
,
Oegstgeest
Oegstgeest () is a town and municipality in the province of South Holland in the western Netherlands. Its population was in .
Etymology
The portion ''geest'' in the name refers to the geest lands, which were excavated in the seventeenth cen ...
, and Leiden.
History
The Leidsevaart was the extension of the ''
Haarlemmertrekvaart
The Haarlemmertrekvaart haːrlɛmərˈtrɛkfaːrt(Haarlem's Tow-Canal) is a canal between Amsterdam and Haarlem in the province of North Holland, the Netherlands. It was dug in 1631, making it the oldest tow-canal in Holland. Travel on such can ...
'' (Haarlem's Pull-Canal) connecting
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...
to Haarlem. Travel on these canals was done by
trekschuit
Trekschuit (, literally ''"tug-boat"'', but true meaning ''"tugged-boat"'') is an old style of sail- and horse-drawn boat specific to the Netherlands, where it was used for centuries as a means of passenger traffic between cities along ''trek ...
for people, and by
barge
Barge nowadays generally refers to a flat-bottomed inland waterway vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. The first modern barges were pulled by tugs, but nowadays most are pushed by pusher boats, or other vessels ...
for goods, which were pulled by animals (and sometimes by man-power) on a
towpath
A towpath is a road or trail on the bank of a river, canal, or other inland waterway. The purpose of a towpath is to allow a land vehicle, beasts of burden, or a team of human pullers to tow a boat, often a barge. This mode of transport w ...
along the canal's edge. It was reliable, comfortable and cheap. The speed was about 7 kilometers per hour, which was faster than walking, and more comfortable than by
coach
Coach may refer to:
Guidance/instruction
* Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities
* Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process
** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers
Transportation
* Co ...
. Many wealthy Amsterdam families had summer homes along the Leidsevaart or
Spaarne
The Spaarne is a river in North Holland, Netherlands. This partially canalized river connects the Ringvaart to a side branch of the North Sea Canal. It runs through Haarlem, Heemstede, and Spaarndam.
The historic canals of Haarlem's moats are c ...
River, and they arrived with their heavy belongings by barge, often being pulled or sailed all the way to their door, as most summer
estates had canals dug for this purpose. Even today the old canals are visible though probably too shallow for a trekschuit.
The canal was kept up with toll money and taxes. Many estate owners spent money on making canal spurs to their doorstep and then had to pay taxes for fishing rights, "swan" keeping rights, or general canal use. The same was true for landowners whose lands were seized for digging the canal. They were compensated for the loss of the land strip taken up by the canal, but they had to pay for a bridge themselves. Trekschuit owners also had to pay taxes for using the canal. Taxes for traffic in people (by trekschuit) was heavier than taxes for traffic in goods (by barge).
Full text of "Inventaris van het archief der stad Haarlem"
'640. II Oct. 1657''. Acte van Jac. van Wassenaer, heer van Warmond, over het leggen van de brug bij het Warmonderhek...''642. A°. 1659''. Opdragtbrieven aan de stad Haarlem van lan-
den, gebruikt tot het graven van de Leidsche trekvaart...''1067. A°. 1657 — 1740''. Stukken over de visscherij in de Leidsche trekvaart...''1071''. Memoriaal rakende eenige gehouden besoignes met de Heren van Leiden, tot het maken van de nieuwe trekvaart; begonnen 16 Aug. 1655 en eindigende Junij 1656...''1078. A°, 1657 — 1795''. Rekeningen der trekvaart, (Haarlemse zijde).
After the railway line from Leiden to Haarlem (Oude Lijn
Awadh (), known in British historical texts as Avadh or Oudh, is a region in the modern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, which was before independence known as the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh. It is synonymous with the Kośāla region of ...
) was built, many of these extra costs made trekschuit travel unattractive and the canal quickly fell in popularity from 1842 onwards. Due to the many drawbridges along its course that are no longer in operation, the Leidsevaart is unsuitable for boat traffic nowadays and therefore has fallen mostly in disuse.
Estates along the Leidsevaart
* Oud Poelgeest
Oud Poelgeest is castle in Oegstgeest, north of Leiden, that was the former home of the Dutch scientist Herman Boerhaave (1668–1738). He was a Dutch humanist and physician of European fame.
History
The castle was built in 1668 on the foundat ...
, home to Herman Boerhaave
Herman Boerhaave (, 31 December 1668 – 23 September 1738Underwood, E. Ashworth. "Boerhaave After Three Hundred Years." ''The British Medical Journal'' 4, no. 5634 (1968): 820–25. https://www.jstor.org/stable/20395297.) was a Dutch botanist, ...
* Keukenhof, former estate and scene of a yearly flower show in the Netherlands
* Huis te Vogelenzang (reachable via a rather long canal spur that continued straight when the canal approached Heemstede
Heemstede () is a town and a municipality in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. It is the fourth richest municipality of the Netherlands.
History
Heemstede formed around the Castle ''Heemstede'' that was built overlooking the ...
)
* The Hartekamp
Hartekamp, or Hartecamp, is the name of a villa in Heemstede, North Holland, the Netherlands, on the Bennebroek border. It was once the Buitenplaats of George Clifford, who employed Carl Linnaeus in 1737 to write his '' Hortus Cliffortianus'', a ...
, home to George Clifford and famous for its ''Hortus Cliffortianus
The ''Hortus Cliffortianus'' is a work of early botanical literature published in 1737.
The work was a collaboration between Carl Linnaeus and the illustrator Georg Dionysius Ehret, financed by George Clifford in 1735-1736. Clifford, a wealthy A ...
'' published by Carl Linnaeus
Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his Nobility#Ennoblement, ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalise ...
* Huis te Manpad
The Huis te Manpad is an historical villa and former summer home of Jacob van Lennep in Heemstede, the Netherlands; bordered by the Leidsevaart canal, the Manpadslaan, and the Herenweg. It neighbors the estate of Hartekamp, famed for the gardens ...
, at the corner of the Manpadslaan and located at the toll bridge to Heemstede
* Leyduin, across from the Manpad
* Meer en Berg, at the end of the Manpad on the East side (now part of Groenendaal Park
Groenendaal park lies at the center of Heemstede, Netherlands.
The park includes the grounds of old Heemstede country estates Bosbeek, and Meer en Berg. Along its western borders are the old Heemstede country estates Hartekamp, Huis te Manp ...
)
* Iepenrode, across from Groenendaal (now part of Groenendaal park)
* Berkenrode
Berkenrode, or Berckenroode is a former 'Heerlijkheid' in the Dutch province of North Holland, situated on the southwest side of Haarlem on the leidsevaart, north of Iepenrode and west of Heemstede. The original castle Berkenrode in the center of ...
, across from the Haarlem toll bridge (today the location of Heemstede-Aerdenhout railway station
Heemstede-Aerdenhout () is a railway station in Heemstede and Aerdenhout, Netherlands. The station opened on 1 October 1891 and is located on the site of the old Toll house for the Leidsevaart canal, which still flows next to the station from Haa ...
)
* Alverna
La Verna ( la, Alverna is a locality on Mount Penna ( it, Monte Penna), an isolated mountain of situated in the centre of the Tuscan Apennines, rising above the valley of the Casentino, central Italy. The place is known especially for its asso ...
, a cloister across from Berkenrode
References
{{coord, 52.2805, 4.5887, dim:20000_region:NL, display=title
Canals in the Netherlands
Canals in North Holland
Canals in South Holland
Geography of Haarlem
History of Haarlem
History of Leiden
Leiden
Heemstede
Hillegom
Canals opened in 1657
1657 establishments in the Dutch Republic