Slekkeput

Location: Rabattestraat, opposite number 2, 8350 Damme [gps]
Accessibility: no longer visible

The "Slekkeput" is a unique piece of maritime heritage that is fairly unknown, even to the inhabitants of Damme itself.  That's unfortunate because it is the oldest still existing lock-chamber in Flanders.  However, you can't see much of it anymore because after the cleanup, the monument was covered with sand to protect it against the elements of nature.  A small plate is the only thing that indicates that an important monument is lying here under the ground.  

But what is this "Slekkeput"?  Well it defenitely is not a pit but a genuine sluice used for the first time around 1660 when the watercourse of the canal the "Lieve" was moved outside the town.  The Slekkeput served to keep the waterlevel in the Lieve at a navigeable level.  Because of the extension of the town walls with an extra defensive wall at this place, the sluice became  unusable.  Slowly but certainly the construction decayed and got covered under the ground.  Since 1997, the sluice is legally protected as monument.