Beveren: polders, power and port
A report from Nick Fern
NTAB organised a fascinating day out along the West bank of the Schelde, a windswept and largely unknown part of Belgium.
Most frontiers have some physical presence, but along this frontier between Belgium and the Netherlands only the GPS, flicking between the two countries showed where the boundary lay. It’s a land of distant horizons and huge skies, as befits the third largest, in area, commune of Flanders, where for centuries, the river Schelde and its salt marshes dominated life.
We started our day in the village of Prosperpolder, where in the visitors’ centre, a restored farm complex, we were greeted with coffee and pastries for a talk on the history of the region. The complex has some restored rooms and was the local grain mill. A hundred-year-old diesel engine powered the mill, serving the farming community, whose fields were once an extension of today’s salt marshes, painstakingly turned into rich agricultural land. The dykes were made with manual labour-lots of it!
Our guide then took us on a coach visit along the current dyke, protecting the farmlands from the huge (35km2) salt marsh, now not only protecting Antwerp and its port/industrial complex from flooding, but providing a resting area for migrating birds on their spring and autumn journeys north and south. Global warming is raising the sea level and flood risks are increasing so recently some of the older polders are being returned to the marshes. A costly venture as the displaced farmers have had to be compensated as well as new dykes and infrastructure built.
We ended the morning with a splendid lunch -in the Netherlands, but I suspect with a majority Belgian cliental, as the Dutch population of South Zeeland is not very dense.
The port of Antwerp was entirely on the right bank of the river, but demand for quay space has led to a huge development on the left bank, to which we drove after lunch, our horizon dominated by the massive cooling towers of the Doel nuclear power station.
The village of Doel was evacuated and scheduled for complete demolition to expand dock facilities, but decisions were reversed more than 20 years ago, leaving a sad town, everything boarded up, graffiti everywhere; just a pretty little church and, incongruously, a perfectly maintained children’s playground. There are a few residents, but it will require a pioneering spirit to build a life here, though so near to a major city and lots of economic activity. Behind its dyke, the village is at or perhaps even below the level of the river and it was somewhat surreal to see the superstructures of huge freighters gliding apparently above us.
On the dyke here, as well as a great view of passing shipping and the background of the nuclear power station is a 17th century windmill, once driving pumps helping to keep the polders drained and now being restored. It was here in 1944, that the British army established an AA battery, to limit the destruction being wrought by V1 bombs, which the Germans were sending to destroy as much as possible of Antwerp and its port infrastructure.
We ended the day in the port on the left bank. An area of docks; a complex road network, very busy, even on a Saturday afternoon, but with remarkably few people. The visitors’ centre overlooks the world’s biggest lock, 500m long, 70m wide and capable of handling ships with draught up to 18 m. We were fortunate to see it in action with two ships preparing to leave; one modern, sleek and with bow thrusters, the other older and needing the TLC of a couple of busy little tugs to keep it in place. As the second was pulling away from the lock, one could see the next ships preparing to enter the port through this lock.
Many thanks to Filip Vanden Borre, organizer of the day and proud resident of Beveren.
(Photos Johan Vanbrabant)
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