Inner diked Meuse

The Binnenbedijkte Maas is a lake in the Netherlands. It is a dammed branch of the Maas in the Hoeksche Waard with a length of 7.3 kilometers. The Binnenbedijkte Maas is often popularly referred to as Binnenmaas for short. This was also the name of the municipality in which the lake is located. The Binnenbedijkte Maas is a remnant of an original course of the Meuse, which historians call the Roman-Medieval Meuse. This water entered the current Hoeksche Waard at 's-Gravendeel, and continued its way on the west side of Oud-Beijerland towards Brielse Maas. This course was dammed in the 13th century upstream at Hedikhuizen and downstream at Maasdam. The damming at Westmaas followed at a later date. From then on, the Meuse flowed via the current Afgedamde Maas towards the Merwede, which split further downstream into the Oude Maas and the Noord. The damming of the southern branch of the Meuse and the construction of a long ring dike created the Groote or Hollandsche Waard, which was intersected by the residual channel of the Meuse. Dike breaches during the St. Elisabeth's Flood and in the years that followed resulted in large parts of the Groote or Hollandsche Waard being flooded. The part between Westmaas and Maasdam was spared, further east the location of the Meuse between Maasdam and Geertruidenberg has been completely erased by erosion. The Binnenbedijkte Maas is therefore now completely isolated in a polder landscape.

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