The Hoge Woerd

On a single day in 1997, the entire Roman frontier surfaced at De Meern: the road, the riverbed and a ship.

Archaeologists were excavating a stretch of the limes road in what was then the new district of Leidsche Rijn. While pumping away groundwater they hit a piece of timber, which turned out to be the start of a twenty-five metre cargo vessel. It was named De Meern 1.

The ship went down around the year 190, fully in service, probably after a navigation error in a winding side branch of the Rhine. The crew left everything behind: tools, cargo gear, personal belongings. The mud preserved the lot. It is the most complete Roman river ship found anywhere in north-western Europe.

It was lifted in 2003, and roughly ten years of conservation followed. It now lies inside the walls of Castellum Hoge Woerd, a modern building that follows the outline of the Roman fort that really did stand here. More ships lie in the soil of Leidsche Rijn, deliberately left where they are.

What the fort itself was called, nobody knows. Its Roman name has never been recovered.

Utrecht began as a Roman border post. One of our walking routes through the city shows you what came after.