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The Hamtoren is the remains of Den Ham castle in Vleuten in Utrecht. The tower is located north of the Utrecht - Rotterdam railway line on an old road to Harmelen. [1]
The castle mentioned for the first time in a charter from 1325 [2] was initially built as a residential tower. It is believed that it was built around 1260, at an inlet of the old Rhine because it made it more defensible. [3] The tower allowed the owner to exert power over the surrounding area.
Den Ham was repeatedly deployed. In 1481 it was partially destroyed, then it was expanded to include a second tower. In 1536 the States of Utrecht recognized it as a city of knights, the residents were then admitted to the Knighthood. In 1642 the gatehouse that gives access to Den Ham was rebuilt. By marriage in 1711 the castle came into the possession of the Hacfort family where it would remain until 1811. Around 1872 the castle was in disrepair and, apart from the tower, it was demolished. About 100 years later, the tower was restored. Today, the tower is privately owned and can only be visited very rarely. In 2016 the tower was purchased by Bas Kennis, musician with Blof, with the idea to transform it into a studio. [4]
The excavated tower has one and a half meter thick brick walls of about 27 meters high. Among other things, a turn has been made on top and the total height is approximately 35 meters. Inside it has six floors and a basement where medieval beams have been preserved.
Utrecht is the fourth-largest city of the Netherlands, as well as the capital and the most populous city of the province of Utrecht. The municipality of Utrecht is located in the eastern part of the Randstad conurbation, in the very centre of mainland Netherlands, and includes Haarzuilens, Vleuten en De Meern. It has a population of 361,699 as of December 2021.
The Dom Tower of Utrecht is the tallest church tower in the Netherlands, at 112.32 metres (368,5 feet) in height. It is considered the symbol of Utrecht. The tower was part of St. Martin's Cathedral, also known as the Dom Church, and was built between 1321 and 1382, to a design by John of Hainaut. The cathedral was never fully completed due to lack of money. Since the unfinished nave collapsed in 1674, the Dom tower has been a freestanding tower. The tower stands at the spot where the city of Utrecht originated almost 2,000 years ago.
Loevestein Castle is a medieval castle in the municipality of Zaltbommel, Gelderland, the Netherlands.
The Oude Rijn is a branch of the Rhine delta in the Dutch provinces of Utrecht and South Holland, starting west of Utrecht, at Harmelen, and running by a mechanical pumping station into the North Sea at Katwijk. Its present-day length is 52 kilometres.
Muiden Castle is a castle in the Netherlands, located at the mouth of the Vecht river, some 15 kilometers southeast of Amsterdam, in Muiden, where it flows into what used to be the Zuiderzee. It is one of the better known castles in the Netherlands and featured in many television shows set in the Middle Ages.
Leidsche Rijn is a new construction site and neighborhood in Utrecht, the capital of the Dutch province of Utrecht. The area is located west of the Amsterdam–Rhine Canal and its name is derived from the Leidse Rijn canal, which runs through it. At the time of its inception in the 1990s and in the decades that followed, Leidsche Rijn was the largest Vinex location in the Netherlands. Most of this location was on the territory of the former municipality of Vleuten-De Meern, located west of the city of Utrecht. A smaller part of this location, namely the area of Hoge and Lage Weide, was located in the municipality of Utrecht.
Werkhoven is a town in the Dutch province of Utrecht. It is a part of the municipality of Bunnik, and lies about 5 km east of Houten. Castle Beverweerd is located on the other side of the river.
Doorwerth Castle is a medieval castle situated on the river Rhine near the city of Arnhem, Netherlands.
Oudenrijn is a hamlet in the Dutch province of Utrecht. It is located in the municipality of Utrecht, in the western part of the city, surrounded by the new neighbourhoods of Leidsche Rijn.
Heemstede Castle is the site of the old castle of Heemstede. The property is situated at the site of the former castle 'Heerlijkheid Heemstede', or 'Huis te Heemstede', at a strategic position on mouth of the Spaarne river on the Haarlem lake.
The Leidse Rijn is a canal in the province of Utrecht, Netherlands.
The castle Croy is a castle in the Dutch province North Brabant, near the village Aarle-Rixtel which is part of the municipality of Laarbeek. From 1642 until 1968 Croy belonged to the municipality Stiphout.
Zuylen Castle is a Dutch castle at the village of Oud-Zuilen just north of the city of Utrecht. It is located along the river Vecht at the southern end of the Vechtstreek.
Huis Bergh is a castle in 's-Heerenberg city and is one of the largest castles in the Netherlands. It gives its name to the Land van den Bergh and was previously owned by the counts van Bergh.
Egmond Castle, also called the Ruins of Egmond, is a ruined medieval castle in the Dutch province of North Holland. It is located in Egmond aan den Hoef in the municipality of Bergen and lies about 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) west of Alkmaar. The castle dates from the 11th century and is the ancestral seat of the Egmond family, whose members became sovereign Dukes of Guelders, Counts of Egmond and Princes of Gavere, Counts of Buren and Leerdam. It is a national monument of the Netherlands.
Albaniana was the name the ancient Romans gave a settlement on the southern banks of Rhine river, some 40 kilometers from its mouth in the North Sea, known as Alfen and modern-day Alphen aan den Rijn, Netherlands. They did build a military fort there, as part of a range strategically built encampments, to protect and guard the river, frontier (limes) of the Roman empire and main transport route of goods and troops. The historical map Tabula Peutingeriana situates the settlement in between Matilo (Leiden) and Praetorium Agrippinae (Valkenburg) downstream and Nigrum Pullum (Zwammerdam) and Fectio (Vechten) upstream. The village was mentioned in Antoninus' register of roads Itinerarium Antonini from the 3rd century. The fortress must have been surrounded by a wall of ground and wooden poles, with gates and watch towers.
Beverweerd Castle is a 13th century castle and former knight's court town, which is located on an island along the Kromme Rijn near the village of Werkhoven in the Dutch province of Utrecht. The castle is surrounded by landscaped gardens, in which the Kromme Rijn itself plays an important role in the landscape. The castle was empty for a long time and was not open to the public. Since 2006, painter and art forger Geert Jan Jansen has lived and worked at Beverweerd Castle. The surrounding gardens are ideal for walking, which offers a good view of the castle and the Kromme Rijn.
