Haagpoort and Wateringsepoort

The Haagpoort led northward to the Vliet canal, in Leeuwenhoek's time, the major highway through the center of Holland. Not three miles north of Delft, in Voorburg, the canal split south of the Huygens' estate, Hofwijk. One branch continued northward to den Haag. The Vliet itself continued northeast to Leiden and, beyond it, Haarlem and then Amsterdam as the widened northern part of the ancient canal built by Roman general Corbulo in the first century A.D. Vroom's View of Delft below shows the boat traffic on the Vliet heading toward Delft in 1617.

Alongside the Haagpoort was the Wateringsepoort, named after the town on the North Sea just south of den Haag.

When orginally built in the 1400's, the Haagpoort was called the Noordpoort (North Gate). Above this gate stood the bust of Philip II with his coat of arms. Blaeu's 1649 Delft Batavorum map (top right) shows the land bridge to the rampart. The rampart has two smalls houses or barns, a series of what look like drying racks for fabric, and a ship repair area toward the top (east).

The Kaart Figuratief of 1678 shows a straighter land bridge as well as canons on the deck over the gate. Inside the gate, the northern terminus of the Oude Delft gracht, is the Leydse Veer, the Leiden ferry, which had scheduled runs after 1638.

The images on the left sidebar show artists' views of the gates.

After Willem of Orange moved his headquarters to Delft, these gates were fortified for an expected attack and seige by the Spanish during what turned out to be the Eighty Years' War. As seen clearly on Blaeu's Delft Batavorum map of 1649 (left) and on the Kaart Figuratief of 1678, a triangular-shaped rampart was built within a widened singel that connected to both gates. After 1573, the only way in and out by foot or horse was via the Haagpoort's drawbridge alone. The gate itself was high enough for the horse-drawn ferry (trekschuit) but too low for an enemy's warships.

Hendrick Cornelis Vroom (1566 - 1640)
View of Delft from the Northwest