Bredevoort
Bastion Welgemoed (‘Stout-hearted’) is a former bastion located on the southern edge of the town of Bredevoort. It was part of the fortifications of Bredevoort. Because the Prins van Oranje windmill was built upon it, the bastion was spared from dismantling, making it Bredevoort’s only surviving bastion.
The bastion is no longer easily recognisable. It was once eight metres high and equipped with three cavaliers (katten) plus a breastwork. Due to the excavation of the breastwork, the bastion now stands six metres high. The lower rampart has also been removed, and the surrounding moats have been filled in.
Reconstruction
The image shows a reconstruction of Bastion Welgemoed, illustrating its position relative to the houses that stand there today. The lower rampart situated in front of the bastion is also visible. The section on the right is the part that remains today as a shapeless mound. The curtain wall (courtine) on the left of the image has largely disappeared; only a rise near St George’s Church remains as a final vestige of the main rampart that once ran towards Bastion Ossenkop.
