Paulien van Vredendaal

The Dutch term ‘slagenlandschap’ is a collective name for many landscapes with long narrow plots in former swampy transition zone between higher areas (often with sandy soils) to lower marine clay areas. These plots were mined around the so-called road villages (in Dutch: wegdorpen). These residential ribbons can be regarded as closed edges of open

The landscapes of the Zeeland and Zuid Holland islands and West Brabant consist of a succession of small polders in a lagoon. Here, due to the tidal action, new land was silted up to become salt marshes and mud flats. When those salt marshes had silted up high enough, the sea also deposited a fertile

In the river area of Brabant six land consolidations were prepared in the Beersche Overlaat. The Beersche Overlaat is where the Maas created an extra discharge route in the event of heavy precipitation. This spillway was closed after the Maas was canalized in the 1930s and the dykes along it were reinforced. For Benthem, the

An early Gelderland land consolidation is Hedel-Ammerzoden. The landscape plan was completed in 1947, according to the annual report of Staatsbosbeheer, and was planted in the winter of 1948/49. Several publications comment upon the “deteriorated land” in the river area before the land consolidation. The farms in the villages destroyed by war were replaced by

The landscape plan for Het Rossumerveld en de Lemseler Esch (H.W. de Vroome, 1949) in Twente shows the new design for the heathland reclamations that was developed in 1948 and 1949. An interplay of old plantings, careful tracing of new roads and planting provides an interesting experience of the landscape. With canals and rows of

An “es” is a field complex near the village. For centuries, these fields were divided into many long narrow plots that were plowed and tilled with horses. Due to the land consolidation, the plots were widened so that they could be worked with a tractor. In the landscape plan, the “essen” were emphasized as large

Balmahuizen was one of the first designs Harry de Vroome made in 1948. The “terpenlandschap” originated from a Wadden Sea where thousands of years ago people built terps or mounds on the higher salt marshes to keep themselves and livestock dry at high tide. The contrast between the salt marsh plain and the terps is

Landscape plan Lieshoutsche Beemden en Beeksche Akker, made by R.J. Benthem, from March 1946 is the oldest plan in the collection. The drawing of the plan Spoordonk, made by Benthem and H.W. de Vroome, dates from 1948. These plans are examples of land consolidation in the “oudehoevenlandschap” (old farms landscape) of Noord-Brabant with scattered farms