Schoonhoven

History

a castle was built on the north side of a small stream called "Zevender", near its mouth at the Lek River. The town Schoonhoven was then formed near the castle. The oldest reference to the town is in a document from 1247, where it is referred to as Sconhoven. In 1280, it was granted town rights. Around 1350, walls and gates were constructed around the city. The city's economy depended on shipping, brewing, fishing and agriculture. Schoonhoven was also the marketplace for the region. In 1518, the castle burned down and its remains were removed in subsequent decades. Between 1582 and 1601 the city's defense walls were renewed and expanded to include the shipyards as well. At this point, the fortifications mainly faced eastward (as can be seen on the 1652 map of Schoonhoven by Joan Blaeu), because of the historically strategical location on the border between the County of Holland and the Bishopric of Utrecht. Following the Disaster Year of 1672, they were reinforced once again and expanded on the west and north sides. Yet in 1816, when bastion fortifications were no longer relevant to the warfare of the time, they were mostly demolished and made way for a cemetery and a park. Nowadays, most of the town walls and gates too have disappeared. The only remaining medieval entrance gate of Schoonhoven is the Veerpoort (Ferry Gate) that faces the Lek River. This Veerpoort has protected Schoonhoven from the floods of the river Rhine and from the sea during the devastating North Sea flood of 1953 and is still fully functional as a water barrier today. By 1860, the city had 2900 inhabitants. Not until the middle of the 20th century did the city expand beyond the former fortress limits; firstly in a north-westerly direction, and then eastward since the 1990s.

Most-observed species

• muskrat

  Ondatra zibethicus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Mammalia
  44,098
• Eurasian Coot

  Fulica atra Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  35,849
• Common Chiffchaff

  Phylloscopus collybita (Vieillot, 1817) · Aves
  31,356
• Great Egret

  Ardea alba Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  31,292
• Gray/Purple Heron

  Ardea cinerea Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  30,012
• Mallard

  Anas platyrhynchos Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  29,630
• Eurasian Blackbird

  Turdus merula Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  29,536
• Great Tit

  Parus major Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  27,390

Most recent

• M 4.2 — 2011-09-08
  3 km ENE of Heijen, Netherlands
• M 2.9 — 2008-10-11
  19 km WNW of Egmond aan Zee, Netherlands
• M 2.9 — 2001-09-25
  1 km NE of Oirlo, Netherlands