Schellingwoude and the Oranje Locks

The deeper story

Schellingwoude lies along the Waterlandse Zeedijk on the eastern side of Amsterdam-Noord. Its houses follow the bends and differences in height of the dike and recall a time when safe settlement was possible mainly on or immediately behind a raised flood defence. On the waterside are the Oranje Locks. Their straight walls, steel gates and long chambers belong to a far larger scale than the old village ribbon.

The area north of the IJ originally consisted of wet peatland. From the Middle Ages onwards, residents dug drainage ditches to dry the peat and make farming possible. This caused the ground to subside and made the land behind the dikes increasingly vulnerable to high water. Dikes therefore became not only boundaries in the landscape, but also the backbone of settlement, transport and safety.

Several villages developed along the Waterlandse Zeedijk, including Schellingwoude, Nieuwendam, Buiksloot and Durgerdam. Houses stood on the crest, along the slope or immediately behind the dike. Roads and yards followed the same narrow strip. The result was not a compact village with a central street plan, but a long ribbon in which every bend of the dike influenced the shape of the settlement.

Schellingwoude remained closely connected with the IJ. The water posed a threat, but was also a shipping route, workplace and source of income. Skippers, fishermen, craftspeople and farmers lived close together. The IJ provided connections with Amsterdam, the Zuiderzee and the villages of Waterland. Although the expanding city later absorbed Schellingwoude, the scale of the old dike village remained largely recognisable.

During the nineteenth century, the waterscape around Amsterdam changed dramatically. Parts of the IJ were dammed and reclaimed during the construction of the North Sea Canal. The open waters to the west and east of Amsterdam acquired different functions and water levels. The Inner IJ became part of the new canal system, while the Outer IJ retained its connection with the Zuiderzee.

A controlled passage was needed between these two bodies of water. Ships had to pass, but water could not be allowed to flow uncontrolled from one basin to the other. The level of the North Sea Canal area also had to remain manageable. The narrow water connection near Schellingwoude offered a suitable location for a complex that could regulate shipping and water management at the same time.

The first stone of the Oranje Locks was laid in 1870. The complex entered service on 18 March 1872. The three original navigation locks were built in different dimensions so that several types of vessel could be handled. Dams and operational buildings stood between the locks, creating a coherent hydraulic complex.

When a vessel enters a lock, the gates close behind it. Water is then admitted to or released from the chamber until its level matches that of the next body of water. Only then can the gates on the other side be opened. The locks therefore create a controlled transition without directly connecting the Inner IJ and Outer IJ.

The Oranje Locks performed more functions than simply passing vessels. They helped regulate the level of the North Sea Canal area and limited the movement of salt or brackish water towards the fresher waters east of Amsterdam. After the closure of the Zuiderzee in 1932, this separation became part of a much larger system connecting the North Sea, North Sea Canal, IJsselmeer and surrounding polders.

Inland shipping expanded and vessels became increasingly large. The original nineteenth-century chambers could not process all modern traffic efficiently. The complex was therefore expanded with the much larger Prins Willem-Alexander Lock, which entered service in 1995. The new lock stands beside the older ones and immediately reveals the difference between nineteenth-century and modern hydraulic engineering.

The village and locks are nevertheless not separate worlds. The Waterlandse Zeedijk protected the low hinterland and determined for centuries where people could live. The Oranje Locks later assumed control of shipping and water levels on a scale extending far beyond Schellingwoude. One structure follows the irregular form of old land; the other consists of straight lines, fixed dimensions and moving machinery.

Walk along the Schellingwouderdijk and first notice the small houses, changes in level, narrow yards and bends of the old dike ribbon. Then look towards the lock complex, where gates open, water rises or falls inside the chambers and vessels wait to pass. Two ways of living with water meet here: first protection by settling higher behind a dike, and later control by regulating that same water ever more precisely with locks.