The Spaarne is a

river A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...

North Holland North Holland (, ) is a Provinces of the Netherlands, province of the Netherlands in the northwestern part of the country. It is located on the North Sea, north of South Holland and Utrecht (province), Utrecht, and west of Friesland and Flevola ...

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. This partially canalized river connects the Ringvaart to a side branch of the

North Sea Canal The North Sea Canal () is a Dutch ship canal from Amsterdam to the North Sea at IJmuiden, constructed between 1865 and 1876 to enable seafaring vessels to reach the port of Amsterdam. This man-made channel terminates at Amsterdam in the closed- ...

. It runs through

Haarlem Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English language, English) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the Provinces of the Nether ...

Heemstede Heemstede () is a town and a municipality in the Western Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. In 2021, it had a population of 27,545. Located just south of the city of Haarlem on the border with South Holland, it is one of the richest ...

, and Spaarndam. The historic canals of Haarlem's moats are connected to the Spaarne. A lock at Spaarndam separates it from the North Sea Canal. According to Sterck-Proot, a historian, the name Spaarne probably comes from ''Spier'', which means reed in old Dutch.

History

The river formerly flowed from the

Haarlemmermeer Haarlemmermeer () is a List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the west of the Netherlands, in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Holland. Haarlemmermeer is a polder, consisting of land reclaimed from water. The ...

(Haarlem Lake) to the IJ, which used to extend from the

Zuiderzee The Zuiderzee or Zuider Zee (; old spelling ''Zuyderzee'' or ''Zuyder Zee''), historically called Lake Almere and Lake Flevo, was a shallow bay of the North Sea in the northwest of the Netherlands. It extended about 100 km (60 miles) inla ...

all the way to

Velsen Velsen () is a municipality in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. It is located on both sides of the North Sea Canal. On the north side of the North Sea Canal there is a major steel plant, Tata Steel IJmuiden, formerly known as ...

. In the 13th century, a

dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, aqua ...

with

lock Lock(s) or Locked may refer to: Common meanings *Lock and key, a mechanical device used to secure items of importance *Lock (water navigation), a device for boats to transit between different levels of water, as in a canal Arts and entertainme ...

s was constructed at the mouth of the Spaarne where the village of Spaarndam then formed. After a century of planning, Haarlem's Lake was pumped dry in 3 years from 1850–1853 and made into a

polder A polder () is a low-lying tract of land that forms an artificial hydrology, hydrological entity, enclosed by embankments known as levee, dikes. The three types of polder are: # Land reclamation, Land reclaimed from a body of water, such as a ...

. The Spaarne became a branch of the Ringvaart, lost much of its flow, and became shallower. The construction of the

(completed in 1876) reduced most of the IJ Bay into polders but a small canalized section of the IJ remained at Spaarndam to connect the Spaarne to the new canal. The river was deepened for the benefit of industries along its shores.

Places of interest along the riverbanks

At the juncture of the river and the ringvaart is the Cruquius Museum, a museum that resides in one of the three original pumping stations from 1850.

Steam engine A steam engine is a heat engine that performs Work (physics), mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a Cylinder (locomotive), cyl ...

s were used to pump the water out from the Haarlemmermeer polder. On the Heemstede side of the juncture is the old Castle Heemstede. Traveling up the river towards Haarlem, on the Heemstede side the dome of the Hageveld high school and former Catholic seminary can be seen. Continuing under the bridge to Schalkwijk, on that side is

windmill A windmill is a machine operated by the force of wind acting on vanes or sails to mill grain (gristmills), pump water, generate electricity, or drive other machinery. Windmills were used throughout the high medieval and early modern period ...

"De Hommel", a sawmill that is often open to the public on spring and summer weekends. Across from that on the Heemstede side is rowing club ''K.R.Z.V. Het Spaarne'' and a few buildings by J.B. van Loghem, such as ''Tuinwijk'', an early community living project sharing a garden. In the same block, entering Haarlem, is the old location of the ships architectural bureau De Voogt Naval Architects in the home of Henri de Voogt, known from Feadship. Nearing the next bridge, on the edge of the wood the Haarlemmerhout, villa Welgelegen can be seen, that once had a garden all the way to the Spaarne. Once in the center of Haarlem, many historic buildings in the centre of Haarlem, including: *The Weigh House of Haarlem * Hodson house *

Teylers Museum Teylers Museum () is an Art museum, art, Natural history museum, natural history, and science museum in Haarlem, Netherlands. Established in 1778, Teylers Museum was founded as a centre for contemporary art and science. The historic centre of the ...

Teylers Hofje The Teylershofje is a hofje in Haarlem, Netherlands with 24 houses. History of the foundation The current hofje was built in 1787 from the legacy of Pieter Teyler van der Hulst, just like the Teylers Museum close to it. Pieter Teyler van der ...

*Windmill " De Adriaan" * Hofje van Noblet Image:HaarlemSpaarne1.jpg, View of downtown Haarlem with the old weigh house in the middle Image:Teylersmuseum.JPG, Teyler's Museum in Haarlem on the Spaarne File:(Haarlem)The houses along the Spaarne River, Netherlands.jpg, Houses along the Spaarne River File:(Haarlem) The morden & triditional houses along the Spaarne River, Netherlands.jpg, Modern and traditional houses along the Spaarne River

References

* J.M Sterck-Proot, Tjeenk Willink, ''Haarlems oudste tijden: een vroeg-middeleeuwsch stadsbeeld'', Haarlem, 1930. *Bert Sliggers a.o., ''De loop van het Spaarne; de geschiedenis van een rivier'', Haarlem, Schuyt, 1987. {{Authority control Rivers of North Holland Geography of Haarlem Heemstede Rivers of the Netherlands