What is a flood barn?
A flood barn is a detached barn on a farm, set higher than its surroundings, used to keep livestock dry when the land is flooded by a river. In Dutch it is called a vloedschuur, also waterschuur or vluchtschuur. In normal times the barn was used to store hay or grain, to house young cattle or sheep, or to shelter carts and wagons. Sometimes one flood barn was shared by several farmers.
Why flood barns?
For a long time people and animals fled from high water to natural rises such as levees and donks, or to man-made terps. Once the rivers were embanked, the riverbeds silted up faster and floods became more frequent and higher. At the same time the land subsided as peat compacted and was dug for fuel. A separate, raised barn gave more certainty that the livestock would survive.
Types
- Detached on a mound: a barn on a refuge mound, separate from the farmhouse. Sometimes a bridge linked the two.
- On or against the dike: the barn is reached from the dike.
- Raised byre: a raised cattle stall inside the farmhouse itself (waterstal), reached up an earth ramp. Recognisable by high-set dung hatches and stable windows.
- Flood loft: a strengthened part of the loft (waterzolder) where cattle could stand temporarily during high water.
On soft peat, a flood barn often had only a brick base with timber walls above.
Application
Flood barns stood mainly in the river areas of the Dutch provinces of Gelderland and South Holland. In the municipality of West Betuwe several are protected as national monuments, including examples in Deil, Heesselt, Buurmalsen and Beesd. In the Alblasserwaard, by contrast, hardly any detached flood barns survive.
Tips
- Check heritage status: find out whether an old barn is a listed monument before you convert or demolish it.
- Recognising one: look for a barn standing clearly higher than the farmyard, or for high dung hatches in the cattle wing of a farmhouse.
- Conversion: keep the raised position and the original form visible; these are exactly what tell the building’s story.
Related terms
- Terp
- Donk
- Deep litter barn
- Farmhouse
- Farmstead outbuilding
- Schuurberg
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