Bastion VIII en ravelijn Dalemsedijk

A bastion or bulwark is a projecting defensive work of a fortress. Bastion VIII is part of the southeastern defensive rampart of Gorinchem. It comprises a bastion with a wet moat in front of it, a ravelin with remains of the ravelin moat and a dam (in front of courtyard VIII-IX). On the bastion is a raised inner courtyard, called a Kat, with two masonry and ground-covered kruitmagazijnen in the throat side.

Here you can see a wooded point of land next to the embankment. That is the right wing of a ravelin, over which the Dalem dike was built in 1815. The story goes that Maarschalk Wirtz had ravelins constructed in the moat during the Disaster Year; these are defensive islands in the moat. We will tell you more about this at the next exposed ravelin. The wet wide moat of Dutch fortresses was the biggest obstacle for an attacker. In 1672, the French sent a spy to Gorinchem to measure the depth of the moat.