Vreeswijk is a former village and municipality in the

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

province of

Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city and a List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, pro ...

. The municipality merged with

Jutphaas Jutphaas is a former village and municipality in the province of Utrecht in the Netherlands. The municipality merged with Vreeswijk in 1971, and is now the northern half of the town of Nieuwegein Nieuwegein () is a municipality and city in the D ...

in 1971, and is now the southern half of the town of

Nieuwegein Nieuwegein () is a municipality and city in the Netherlands, Dutch province of Utrecht (province), Utrecht. It is bordered on the north by the city of Utrecht (city), Utrecht, the provincial capital. It is separated from Vianen to the south by the ...

. The former village was located on the

Lek River The Lek () is a river in the western Netherlands of some in length. It is the continuation of the Nederrijn after the Kromme Rijn branches off at the town of Wijk bij Duurstede. The main westbound waterway is hereafter called the Lek River. The N ...

, near where it is crossed by the

Merwede Canal The Merwede () etymology uncertain, possibly derived from the ancient Dutch ''Merwe'' or ''Merowe'', a word meaning "wide water") is the name of several connected stretches of river in the Netherlands, between the cities of Woudrichem, Dordrecht a ...

Name

The name Vreeswijk is documented in an 11th-century text as ''Fresionovvic'' ('Fresion wic'). Other medieval spellings are ''Vresewijk'', ''Vresewike'', ''Vrieswijc'', and ''Vreeswijck''. The place name is combination of ''Fresia'' meaning ' Frisian' and ''wic'' meaning 'farmstead or settlement', thus settlement of Frisians.

History

The old village centre on the locks has been preserved reasonably well. This lock is said to be the oldest example of a

pound lock A lock is a device used for raising and lowering boats, ships and other watercraft between stretches of water of different levels on river and canal waterways. The distinguishing feature of a lock is a fixed chamber in which the water lev ...

in Europe. This was the key innovation which gave rise to the modern

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 flow un ...

, by virtue of having two gates, although it was a larger basin capable of holding a number of ships at once. The Lek River was normally at a slightly higher level than the canal leading to

and in times of flood was very much higher, so that it would not be possible to let boats enter or leave without flooding the surrounding land. The additional gate limited the amount of water that needed to be let in, so that only the basin needed to be raised.

References

Former populated places in the Netherlands Populated places in Utrecht (province) Former municipalities of Utrecht (province) Nieuwegein {{Utrecht-geo-stub

Name

History

See also

References