The early years
Fort Rammekens was built between 1547 and 1552 by order of Margaret of Hungary, the sister of Charles the Fifth. The fort had to guard the shipping connection to Middelburg (and Antwerp). After all, Middelburg was one of the most important trading cities in the Northern Netherlands. It was designed by the Italian architect Donato de Boni, who built the fortress according to the architectural and defense engineering principles that applied in Italy at the time.
The uprising and the siege of Middelburg
During the Revolt (1568-1648) the fort played a role in the siege of Middelburg. Because of the conquest of the fort by the Beggars in 1574, the Spaniards also had to surrender in Middelburg.
The fort in the Golden Age
In the Golden Age, the fort was important for supplying the ships of the VOC (Dutch East India Company) and MCC (Middelburg Commercial Company) waiting for good wind on Rammekens. Sick sailors were cared for in the hospital on the fort.
Napoleon and the French time
After the English invasion of the French-occupied Walcheren in 1809, Napoleon had the fort changed drastically in the following years. All buildings in the courtyard were removed, casemates were built and the defense was adapted to the requirements of time. Just outside the fort he had a defense wall, the so-called crown work. Parts of it are still visible. After the French era, the fort lost its strategic significance. In 1867 it lost its status as a defensive work and money flow stopped from the Empire. This accelerated the decline of the fort.
The fort in the Second World War
In the Second World War the fort became part of the Atlantik wall, the German defense line along the coasts of Northwest Europe. Apart from the fort itself, bunkers and other concrete reinforcements were also installed in the immediate vicinity. In October 1944 the Allies bombed the sea dike at Rammekens. This as part of the plan to put Walcheren under water and thus to eliminate the German defense. A year long seawater flowed in and out through the holes in the dike. This led to the creation of deep channels, which, after closing the dike in November 1945, were left behind as creeks.
The fort in the present
After the war, a mushroom farm was housed in the fort for a number of years. Since 1972 it has been managed as a national monument by Staatsbosbeheer. Rammekens was thoroughly consolidated in 2012 and 2013 in which the wall work and the moisture penetration were tackled drastically.
