Die Berkel öffnet ihre Schleusen. Zur Wiederentdeckung der Schiffsschleuse in Stadtlohn

First of all, thank you very much for the opportunity to speak in this context. On March 25, last year, almost exactly one year ago, we were able to unlock the beginning of a structure in Stadtloh made of wood, which is probably the ship's lock, which is located on the site. I would like to briefly introduce this finding in the next 15 minutes. Briefly about the project. In the measure that we have accompanied and still do, it has not yet been completed, it is the project Die Berkel, living with the river. Primarily, this is about improving high-water protection as well as a better integration of the river into the social space. As part of this project, I have so far been able to carry out five excavations, in which, among other things, the remains of a grain and an oil mill have been discovered. On the right in the picture we see a postcard of the historical situation of these mills, which I cannot go into further as part of this lecture. There is still a lot to be done, there are still buildings to be distributed, let's see what else happens. The location of the uncovered finds around which this is to be done fits very well with the historical transfer. A lock was to be built at the corresponding site from around 1772. We see it here on the left in the picture, it also says Die Schleuse. This was created in the course of the expansion of the Berkel, in order to gain access to the Dutch ports. Plans for this were already available from the middle of the 17th century. However, it is unclear how far the project was carried out at this time or whether it actually took shape. In the middle of the 18th century, however, the plans were carried out safely and the beginning of the construction was set for 1772. The sources show a significant and by and large a tendency, which is still omnipresent today, to keep costs as low as possible. A total of 2,760 Reichstalers, 1,600 of which were approved for the material. Another saving measure in the construction was that a large part of the money was returned to the farmers, who, of course, were not very well off. This was shown by sabotage. The sources are very clear and picturesque. I quote, You are not looking for anything to hinder you. You went into the ships, sown the same with code, and all hands on deck, and practiced a lot of wickedness. End of quote. As you will see, this combination of using cheap material and the use of partially uneducated workers to build a repair-incompetent building. Initially, however, the difficulties could be eliminated and the construction of the lock could begin. The finding circumstances could have been better, but let's be honest, when is this not the case? The work strip that we were able to examine was in the middle of spruced walls set up for the construction. As a result, the find was capped at its supposed north end. We see this in the picture at the top left. In addition, bad weather period, suppressing groundwater. The biggest problem, however, was that parts of the find had to be rebuilt over and over again. Otherwise, further digging and demolition of the resulting waste would have been impossible. So we could never see the find in its full length. Fortunately, there are techniques like SFM, which gives us a very good overall impression, we were able to build a 3D model, we were able to calculate and secure the information. Despite these circumstances, however, I would like to emphasize the very good willingness to cooperate of all project participants, be it the construction companies on site, be it the project participants or the city-state loan itself. So that worked out great. As for the find itself, the construction, specifically the lock chamber, was segmented. In the following section, I will, for better understanding, always indicate the find numbers of an exemplary segment. You can see it here in the picture. At the ends of each segment, there was a rectangular, approximately 30 to 36 cm thick oak beam in the planum, across to the direction of travel. In this example, find 67 or 71 was included. On the documented southeast end, as I said, we could not reach the northwest end. This beam was each attached by means of a pin connection. A rectangular oak post, in the example, found number 66 or 70, with a strength between 25 and 29 cm. The two beams on the ground went in the right angle against another rectangular, approximately 28 cm wide beam, in the example, found number 50, so that, as you can see, a room was created. This room was laid out with sawed-off wooden slats 54. The intermediate joints were covered above with nailed-on slats found number 53. On the beam number 50, in regular intervals, four rectangular oak posts were placed by means of a pin connection. The outer two, here 59 and, not so clearly visible, 69, stood with the beam number 66 or 70 in a gap, so that a double post construction was created at the ends of the segment. However, the posts of the double post construction were not connected to each other. In every second segment, here on the right in the picture, a transverse beam was additionally used, which gave the construction more stability, found number 57. The outer wall of the lock chamber was additionally sealed against the water with clay. Very, very thick. The construction of the wooden posts 59, 63, 64 and 69, which we have just seen, carried a horizontally placed spline in the form of a blockhouse profile. This was attached to the posts by means of nails. The joints were covered again by wooden boards, so similar to the ground. The fastening in the spline wall itself was carried out by zigzag iron nails. The other two pictures show the probable southwest border of the find. So we could probably also reach an end. In the planum there was an additional inclined beam inserted, which marked this end. Southerly at this beginning, it was south-east oriented, a wooden construction made of beams and spline walls, which were connected to the canal or the lock. Here, the wood found was comparatively strong. Otherwise, the state of preservation was very, very good, among other things, due to a clay packaging, to which I will also come. In this area, you can see it on the left in the picture, however, it has passed quite strongly. A statement about the function of this construction is therefore not quite simple. Functionally, it would make sense at this point to accept the lower lock head, i.e. the lower head, or constructions that are related to it. The wood that we did not use for dendroanalysis is now being processed, by the way, at our suggestion by the city contractor Künstler and integrated into the construction project. Small figurines, etc. would be produced there. So it is not thrown away. The northwest end of the find could also be reached. The segmented structure I just described connected a kind of slide, which was built in the same way as the ground. You can see it at the top left. This is probably the stowage level. Southwest of this, again, there was a construction made of beam posts and spur walls. Here, too, a functional interpretation is not ensured. Analogously to the end in the southwest, I would then accept a statement as the upper head here. And that means, in turn, that we have reached both heads and thus could document the locks on their entire length, that was a total of 40 meters, if not in their entire width. Here you can see it again. I mentioned it. It was capped by the spur wall. If you look at it from the picture, we definitely have the right part. This is shown by test drilling, which was used for canal shafts, but went even further to the left. We just don't know how far, and unfortunately these are areas where the upper head, in turn, closed a large basin. This is probably part of the port. Of course, it could have fulfilled several functions. A sediment catch would be conceivable. At this point, the construction was particularly complex or constructed. The beam, which you see on the right from the front, or also in the left picture, was a total of four meters long from one piece, and all the attachments that went with it were attached by means of various pin connections. In the end, it really is a beam. The pin holes and recesses for additional structures and various other things are also recognizable here, but they are no longer preserved. You can see it on the basin, on the right or also above, that things were still being built, but we no longer know about them. Particularly interesting for me, primarily in view of the mentioned savings measures in the construction, was the transition between the basin and the concrete. Here we see the whole thing enlarged. Here we were able to build an object made of metal, which had a diameter of about 8.5 cm in the middle. It was neatly inserted into a recess in the otherwise wooden floor, as you can see here. This find strongly remembers a cast form for cannonballs. The diameter of 8.5 cm speaks for six finds. But it is also certain that it was intentionally inserted at this point, as you can see very well on the alignment plates on the left and below. But since it is very, very certainly a cast form, it has been used secondarily at this point. Due to the savings measures in the construction, this is not even so unlikely. On the immediately adjacent wood, you can see it in the picture above, there were wear traces that speak for a rotational movement. This makes it possible to say that it served as a kind of fishing. Maybe not only, but as part of it. It does not hold a lock gate in its miniscule. The location between the harbour and the stowage level fits very well there. The wear traces, which, as I said, indicate a rotational movement, then make the existence of a stem gate much more likely than that of a sliding gate. The date that was historically handed down, 1772, fits very well with the result of the archaeological investigation of the wood finds that the Dendro Laboratory of the University of Cologne has carried out for us. You see, the skin years are all between 1747 and 1778, with a tear-out around 1604. From this you can now derive two theories. On the one hand, that partly older wood was used, which fits well with the chosen of cheap building wood. The second statement is due to the inaccuracy of plus or minus ten years, but one could assume that it can be attributed to repair work, for which new wood was then felled. You see the data, 1778, etc. Would actually be after the construction of the lock, but can of course be due to this inaccuracy of ten years before. It's just a theory, but it can be supported, because repair work is already one year after the construction, after the completion of the construction, historically superseded, which has also been shown in the field. You can see it here on the right. And in the otherwise very regular structured construction, we could always see things that break out of this regularity and, in my opinion, indicate repair work. 1789, twelve years after the construction, it is already said in a report by Engelbert Boners, head of the artillery, about the state of the lock at Stadtlohn, that this, I quote, could no longer hold a nail. End of quote. To what extent the Berkel shipyard in general and the use of the lock in Stadtlohn in particular were profitable at this time, is hardly to be reconstructed. Lists about the traffic are only very sporadic. We don't know anything about the completeness. In some years it looks like we have all the documents, in others not. In the first year, relatively safe, but only nine loaded vehicles arrived in Stadtlohn. The cargo consisted primarily of wood. I would also like to mention a single box of eggs, which Amsterdam had as a target. In general, besides the wood, it seems to have been mainly locally produced stoneware, which is also reflected in the found material we have salvaged. Above all, it is also fire aid, which is close to a potter's production on site, as it is also known from other sources. The lock was hardly profitable. A new repair was not profitable due to the low use, so a dam was built around 1796, which kept the lock in front of the final ruin, but at the same time made every passage impossible. I have already indicated that we were able to discover a powerful and very homogeneous clay package on site, which fits well. Thus, the end of the lock in Stadtlohn for 1796 is proven. It is not even 20 years old. We hope that the fish hatchery, which is now being built on the site, will last longer. Thank you for your attention.