Slaperdijk South (Grebbelinie), Renswoude

Southern part of the Slaperdijk.

The name Slaperdijk tells enough. As long as the dike between Wageningen and the Grebbeberg does not break, the Slaperdijk can continue to rest.

Source and more information:
grebbelinie.nl/historie/water defenses/de-slaperdijk/

The Rijndijk (nowadays Grebbedijk) between Wageningen and Rhenen was built around 1300. When the Grebbedijk broke through, the water was held back by the raised moor area near Veenendaal. This changed with the excavation of the peat area, which started in 1545. The consequences became clear when the Grebbedijk broke through again in 1595 and the Rhine water reached the city of Amersfoort.

In the following years this happened a few more times and after a breakthrough in 1651 it was decided to build a reserve dike, the Slaperdijk. In 1653 the dike was finished and in fact the old watershed was restored.