A landscheiding is a Dutch dyke or bank built between two peat reclamations, which later came to form the boundary between two water authorities operating different polder water levels. It is therefore both a hydraulic work and an administrative border.
Why they exist
In the western Netherlands, peatland was systematically reclaimed from around the year 1000. Each reclamation worked into the peat from its own base line and managed its own water level. Where two reclamations met, a problem arose: the peat consolidated unevenly, the water levels diverged, and one area’s water ran into the other.
The solution was a bank or dyke along the dividing line. It held the water back and at the same time marked who was responsible for what. When water authorities later took shape, many of these landscheidingen became their formal boundaries. The best-known example runs between Delfland and Schieland, parts of it dating back to the thirteenth century. The principle recurs in modern hydraulic engineering: the Knardijk in Flevoland acts as an internal dyke between Eastern and Southern Flevoland.
Recognising one in the landscape
- A dead straight, slightly raised line through polder land, often with a road or track along it.
- A ditch or drainage channel on either side.
- A difference in ditch pattern, field orientation or ground level between the two sides.
- Place names that give the function away: Landscheiding, Scheidkade, Zwet, Grenskade.
Building on or beside one
Many landscheidingen are still formally designated as regional flood defences, and at the same time recorded as culturally significant features in the development plan.
- Water permit. Building, excavating, piling, laying services or planting within the core zone or protection zone of a flood defence requires the water authority’s consent in addition to planning permission.
- Piling and vibration. Works near a defence can affect its stability; the authority may impose a monitoring obligation.
- Planting. Deep-rooting trees on a defence are generally not permitted: root channels and the risk of windthrow undermine the dyke body.
- Differential settlement. The subsoil either side of a landscheiding can be materially different. Make sure the ground investigation covers both sides rather than relying on a single borehole.
Related terms
- Flood defence
- Dyke
- Landscape elements
- Ground investigation
- Planning permission
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