The Great Canal of Collateur

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Gracht, the Grote Gracht or the Collateur of Arendonk is a small canal that connects two Kempen canals.

These canals are: the Dessel-Turnhout-Schoten Canal and the Bocholt-Herentals Canal. The Gracht was dug between 1844 and 1846, the same time that the canals were constructed.

The small canal, just a few kilometers long, runs through the territory of Arendonk, Retie, and Dessel.

The canal was used for draining the marshy land and to irrigate it with calcium-rich canal water. This was supposed to make the former wild lands more fertile, but due to a lack of supplied water in the canals, it was unsuccessful.

Since the municipalities were mandated by law in 1847 to reclaim or sell the wild lands. From 1853, land was purchased by King Leopold I and his son Philip. The latter also held the title Count of Flanders, which led to the area quickly being referred to as the Graaf. Trees were planted, but from 1950 the royal domain of 400 hectares was sold to farmers, who from 1951 reclaimed and subdivided the area.

This area, along with several fish ponds created by peat extraction, lies alongside The Gracht. A walkway runs alongside this canal.

Source: De Gracht - Wikipedia

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