Schenkenschanz

Until 1972 it could only be reached by ferry service across the nearby old Rhine arm, while today the Kleve-Griethausen bridge provides a road connection.

Schenkenschanz had military significance when it was the point that split the Rhine river into two arms, the southern Waal and the northern Nederrijn.

After the Dutch Republic had declared its independence from Spain in 1581, Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester commissioned Maarten Schenck van Nydeggen to erect a fortress at the Waal/Nederrijn fork in 1586.

It was however captured by them in 1635 only to succumb to the Dutch forces led by Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange in the long and bitter siege of 1636.

The creation of the Pannerdens Kanaal in 1701/09 repositioned the fork between the two rivers west to Millingen aan de Rijn and Schenkenschanz lost its military significance.

Schenkenschanz (2008), its ferry in the background
Schenkenschans fortress in 1635/36, by Jacobus Schort; North is at the bottom, so the Rhine flows from left to right