Roodehaan - dijkcoupure en schotbalkhuisje

A coupure is a means of closing an opening in a wall, floodwall or

levee A levee ( or ), dike (American English), dyke (British English; see American and British English spelling differences#Miscellaneous spelling differences, spelling differences), embankment, floodbank, or stop bank is an elevated ridge, natural ...

(dike). The word comes from the French verb which means "to cut". In historic times a coupure was a location where a breach in the city walls or the walls of a fortress was closed. In more modern times a coupure is a way of allowing traffic to pass a flood protection structure.

Military

During a

siege A siege () . is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition, or by well-prepared assault. Siege warfare (also called siegecrafts or poliorcetics) is a form of constant, low-intensity conflict charact ...

, a coupure is a ditch or an earthwork or wooden palisade built behind a breach made by the attacker's guns in the walls of a fortress or a city. Its purpose is to hinder and frustrate an attack made by the forlorn hope. This was a strategy used many times by defenders of fortifications, for example, by the Irish defenders during the Siege of Clonmel (April - May 1650). It can also be a passage through a glacis to create a sally port, so that the defenders can launch a

sortie A sortie (from the French word meaning ''exit'' or from Latin root ''surgere'' meaning to "rise up") is a deployment or dispatch of one military unit, be it an aircraft, ship, or troops, from a strongpoint. The term originated in siege warf ...

against the attackers.

Civil engineering

When a

road A road is a thoroughfare used primarily for movement of traffic. Roads differ from streets, whose primary use is local access. They also differ from stroads, which combine the features of streets and roads. Most modern roads are paved. Th ...

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

crosses a floodwall or levee the road or railway can either be laid on a grade or through a cut in the floodwall or levee. In case of expected flooding the cut can temporarily be closed. This type of coupure is also known as ''vehicle gate'', ''floodwall gate'' or similar names. The closure can be accomplished by various means. The most basic means of closing a coupure is with soil or sandbags. More sophisticated means of closing a coupure consist of wooden or metal beams or doors. Older coupures are usually brick structures with provisions for placing two stacks of beams between them. Between the stacks of beams, which form two walls, horse manure or other animal

faeces Feces (also known as faeces American and British English spelling differences#ae and oe, or fæces; : faex) are the solid or semi-solid remains of food that was not digested in the small intestine, and has been broken down by bacteria in the ...

mixed with straw is dumped and compacted. This type of material swells when wet, thus providing additional waterproofing. Modern coupures can consist of only one wall and can be made watertight with the help of rubber flaps or other materials. Rheinperle_Deichscharte_s.jpg, A coupure Rheinperle_Deichscharte_o.jpg, The opening Rheinperle_Deichscharte_zu_s.jpg, With a floodwall installed Rheinperle_Deichscharte_zu_o.jpg, The wall from above

References

Stephen Francis Wyley
A Dictionary of Military Architecture Fortification and Fieldworks from the Iron Age to the Eighteenth Century
', Drawings by Steven Lowe Dikes Flood barriers Siege tactics Fortification (architectural elements) Dams {{fort-stub