Boundary post GP 11 't Veld

The border posts in South Limburg along the Belgian border are numbered from number 1 at the three-country point near Vaals to number 45 on the Maas south of Eijsden.

Up to the southern border of Maastricht there are still a number of "double" border posts , ie a post on the Dutch bank and a post directly opposite on the other, Belgian bank of the Meuse. This applies to numbers 45 to 48. Bluestones are often placed between the boundary markers to indicate where the boundary changes direction. These are not numbered. Usually, here too, they are indicated by a letter starting from the lowest number of the boundary markers. But beware: the topographical maps use a different numbering.
Here we are on the border of Wittem and Sippenaken.
GP 11 is located in the middle of the hamlet of Kuttingen, a few houses on the Dutch but mainly on the Belgian side of the border. The border runs here just behind a number of Belgian houses.

The cast iron posts are actually formidable in size, namely 2.47 m in total.
The octagonal base is 1 meter long. 60 cm of this is underground. Two thirds of this 60 cm is bricked in a brick foundation and this foundation rests on a 20 cm thick masonry round base that is 1 meter in diameter.

The conical part on the octagonal base is 1.30 m.
The button, which completes the whole, is 17 cm. This bud is a stylized pine cone.

Furthermore, the arms of Belgium and the Netherlands , the year 1843 and a number, were affixed to the border marker.
After the 'Treatise of London' , in which William I recognized Belgian independence in 1839 , it took more than 3 1/2 years before Belgium and the Netherlands agreed on the separation between the two countries. On Nov 5 In 1842 a treaty was finally signed. The correct border separation between the two Kingdoms was further elaborated in an agreement that was concluded in Maastricht on August 8, 1843.
The coat of arms should be on the side of one's own country.
However, there are several posts that were set incorrectly, probably which for one reason or another had to be repositioned.
There are also some boundary markers that do not bear the year 1843, but 1869 or 1905.
Immediately after the conclusion of this border agreement, the public tender was held for the supply and installation of the border posts and auxiliary posts.
A company from Liège supplied the cast iron posts and a firm from Maastricht the hard stone intermediate posts.
In less than a year, all 388 piles and 356 hard stone auxiliary piles were installed, which must have been quite a job. Many places were (are) difficult to reach and a cast iron boundary post weighs more than 700 kg in its entirety.

At the three-country point, post no. 1 was erected and to the west of Retranchement, post no. 365.
Later, in 1869, at the embankment of the Zwin, piles 366 to 369 were added.

The boundary markers between the Netherlands and Belgium were placed in 1843. The intention is that one can see the next from one boundary marker with the naked eye , which is certainly no longer the case due to years of vegetation and other factors.
There are no rules according to which it is determined where a boundary marker should be placed. Usually there is one where two border municipalities adjoin each other. Often, but not always, there is also one where the border forms an angle. Furthermore, one can also find boundary markers along old through roads.
In Overslag (Zeeland) and De Kanne (Limburg) there are border posts that are only a few meters apart . In contrast, there is 4 km between poles 208-209 and 251-252 .
There are no poles or stones around Baarle Nassau. The border here has a very erratic course and at a border length of 70 km, between poles 214 and 215 there is no border indication.

Willem Vandenameele