Schoorldam and the Rekere
We are on the North Holland Canal. In the Middle Ages, a river, the Rekere, flowed here. It ran from the Schermeer in the south past Alkmaar toward the Zijpe. The Zijpe was an elongated tidal inlet between the dunes and West Friesland, which was in open connection with the Zuiderzee.
When the Zijpe filled up during storm surges, the direction of flow of the Rekere (blue) turned. The sea water then penetrated inland from the Zijpe via the river. In December 1196, the entire area around Alkmaar was flooded.
Before 1200, the West Frisians had already built a dike (black line on the Map) along the river (blue line). On old Maps it is called Rekerdijk. In the thirteenth century it was incorporated into the Omringdijk. However, the Rekerdijk gave no guarantee. Like all medieval dikes, it was rather low and not very strong.
Extra defense against the water from the Zijpe was needed, so around 1200 a dam was built at this spot in the Rekere with an opening for shipping traffic (red arrow on the Map). The dam, also a crossing point, was later named the Schoorl Dam after the dune village of Schoorl on the other side. In 1264 another dam was built exactly where the Rekere flowed into the Zijpe (white arrow).
The Schoorldam has disappeared, but we know where it stood: about fifty meters south of the big bridge. In 1597 the reclamation of the Zijpe was a fact. The west of West Friesland had nothing more to fear from the sea. The Rekere had already been turned into a canal in 1530, the Hondsbossche Vaart. It ran from Alkmaar to Petten.
The Hondsbossche Vaart was dug because of the reinforcement of the Hondsbossche Zeewering, the sea wall at Petten (photo). The water board responsible needed a straight, wide and deep waterway to deliver construction materials. The Rekere did not meet this requirement.
In the years 1820-1824, the Hondsbossche Vaart was incorporated into the Noordhollandsch Kanaal. This runs from Den Helder to Amsterdam and was dug by order of King William I (1815-1840) for heavy shipping traffic. The Zuiderzee was not deep enough for that. The canal has long since ceased to be a major waterway, but it is still important for the drainage of excess polder water.