Numansdorp is a town and former

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

in the province

South Holland South Holland ( nl, Zuid-Holland ) is a province of the Netherlands with a population of over 3.7 million as of October 2021 and a population density of about , making it the country's most populous province and one of the world's most densely ...

in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

and is located on the island

Hoeksche Waard The Hoekse Waard (; pre-1947 spelling: Hoeksche Waard) is an island between the Oude Maas, Dordtsche Kil, Hollands Diep, Haringvliet and Spui rivers in the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. The island, part of the namesake municipal ...

near the

Hollands Diep Hollands Diep ( pre-1947 spelling: Hollandsch Diep) is a wide river in the Netherlands and an estuary of the Rhine and Meuse rivers. Through the Scheldt-Rhine Canal it connects to the Scheldt river and Antwerp. The Bergse Maas river and the N ...

. On 1 January 1984, the municipalities Numansdorp and Klaaswaal were merged into one municipality called

Cromstrijen Cromstrijen (; ''Cromstrien'' in local dialect) was a municipality on the Hoeksche Waard Island in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. The municipality covers an area of of which is water. It was formed on 1 January 1984, ...

. Cromstrijen was merged into the new municipality

in January 2019.

History

Numansdorp was founded in 1642. The village was built in the Numanspolder. It took a while till the embankment of this

polder A polder () is a low-lying tract of land that forms an artificial hydrological entity, enclosed by embankments known as dikes. The three types of polder are: # Land reclaimed from a body of water, such as a lake or the seabed # Flood plains s ...

was started. The reason for the delay was a disagreement between the Lords of

and the owners of

Zuid-Beijerland Zuid-Beijerland is a village in the Dutch province of South Holland. It is a part of the municipality of Hoeksche Waard, and lies about 10 km south of Spijkenisse. The village was originally called Den Hitsert. The current name was first us ...

. When the founding of the village had finally taken place, it still didn't have an official name, even though the locals called it Buitensluis. In a meeting it was decided to call the village "Village of Cromstrijen" (Dorp van Cromstrijen). But Dijkgraaf Vos, the chairman of the meeting, believed the village should me named after the first Ambachtsheer, Gerard Numan. The first buildings of the village were built around the drainage sluice at the Numanspolderdijk (now called ''Molendijk'') and from there the town spread along the Binnenhaven. The main street, Voorstraat, was expanded with several crossing streets. In 1647, at the end of one of those crossing streets called the Kerkstraat, a church was built. At the change of 19th century, more buildings were built along the East side of the Voorstraat and several streets crossing it. The drainage sluice was till 1662 made of wood, its successor was made of stone. In 1912 the sluice was replaced by a diesel-run pumping station and in 1942 by one that ran on electricity. There is a sluice door in the sea dike of the Torensteepolder. It originated from before 1970, when the

Haringvliet The Haringvliet is a large inlet of the North Sea, in the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. It is an important estuary of the Rhine-Meuse delta. Near Numansdorp, the Hollands Diep splits into the Haringvliet and the Volkerak estu ...

and

Volkerak The Volkerak is a body of water in the Netherlands. It is part of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, and is situated between the island Goeree-Overflakkee to the north-west and the Dutch mainland to the south and east. The western part of the Volk ...

were still open and there were still tides in the Hollands Diep. The Molendijk had a sluice to the Binnenhaven called ''Buitensluis''. From there the water runs to Klaaswaal. The Middelsluissedijk 1625 had one to the polder Groot-Cromstrijen, also known as ''Middelsluis'' (also a village), and the Boomdijk had one for the polder Klein-Cromstrijen called the ''Oude sluis''.

Fort Buitensluis

In 1793 an earthen fort was built next to the harbour of Numansdorp. The purpose of this fort was to keep an eye on the shipping between the ''Volkerak'' and ''Hollands Diep''. In the same year,

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

attacked the

Austrian Netherlands The Austrian Netherlands nl, Oostenrijkse Nederlanden; french: Pays-Bas Autrichiens; german: Österreichische Niederlande; la, Belgium Austriacum. was the territory of the Burgundian Circle of the Holy Roman Empire between 1714 and 1797. The p ...

. Thanks to the Battle of Neerwinden the Austrian Netherlands remain in Austrian hands. In 1795 the

Batavian Republic The Batavian Republic ( nl, Bataafse Republiek; french: République Batave) was the successor state to the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands. It was proclaimed on 19 January 1795 and ended on 5 June 1806, with the accession of Louis Bona ...

starts. In 1862, the second

cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

Thorbecke Johan Rudolph Thorbecke (14 January 1798 – 4 June 1872) was a Dutch liberal statesman, one of the most important Dutch politicians of the 19th century. Thorbecke is best known for heading the commission that drafted the revision of the Consti ...

, ordered to reinforce the fort. From 1874 on, the fort became a part of the Defence line of the Hollands Diep and the Volkerak. In 1915 the fort was reinforced for a second time, this time with

reinforced concrete Reinforced concrete (RC), also called reinforced cement concrete (RCC) and ferroconcrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion of reinforcement having hig ...

Second World War

On 12 May 1940 the soldiers of the fort received the command to go to

Westmaas Westmaas () is a village in the Dutch province of South Holland. It is located about 14 km south of the city of Rotterdam, next to Mijnsheerenland in the municipality of Hoeksche Waard.Brielle Brielle (), also called Den Briel in Dutch and Brill in English, is a town, municipality and historic seaport in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland, on the north side of the island of Voorne-Putten, at the mouth of the New ...

and next to

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

Frits Philips Frederik Jacques "Frits" Philips (16 April 1905 – 5 December 2005) was the fourth chairman of the board of directors of the Dutch electronics company Philips, which his uncle and father founded. For his actions in saving 382 Jews during the Naz ...

fled from

Eindhoven Eindhoven () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, located in the southern province of North Brabant of which it is its largest. With a population of 238,326 on 1 January 2022,bombed near Numansdorp. Unharmed he managed to reach The Hague. In September 1944 the

Germans , native_name_lang = de , region1 = , pop1 = 72,650,269 , region2 = , pop2 = 534,000 , region3 = , pop3 = 157,000 3,322,405 , region4 = , pop4 = ...

moved the people of Numansdorp, because they wanted to flood the area as a defence against the Allies. In May 1945 they were allowed back in the village.

North Sea flood of 1953

In the night of 31 January and morning of 1 February 1953 large parts of

Zeeland , nl, Ik worstel en kom boven("I struggle and emerge") , anthem = "Zeeuws volkslied"("Zeelandic Anthem") , image_map = Zeeland in the Netherlands.svg , map_alt = , m ...

, the islands of South Holland and some parts of

North Brabant North Brabant ( nl, Noord-Brabant ; Brabantian: ; ), also unofficially called Brabant, is a province in the south of the Netherlands. It borders the provinces of South Holland and Gelderland to the north, Limburg to the east, Zeeland to the we ...

were flooded, due to a combination of high tide and a strong northwestern storm which caused many dikes to break. A result of the flood was the death of 56 inhabitants of the area, which made the Numansdorp the village with the highest number on the Hoeksche Waard. The majority of them, 54, lived in the agricultural area Ambachtsheerlijkheid Cromstrijen not far from the village. The last 3 bodies were found in June that year. Apart from the loss of human lives, about 500 horses, cows, pigs and many poultry were lost. 136 farms and homes were completely ruined, about 850 homes had water damage and more than 2,800 persons were evacuated. Because the fields had been flooded with salt water for 14 days, they couldn't be properly used for the rest of the year.

References

External links

*
www.numansdorp.info
- About the village itself. *
www.cromstrijen.nl
- Site of the municipal Cromstrijen. {{Authority control Former municipalities of South Holland Populated places in South Holland Hoeksche Waard