Between 1582 and 1601 the city 's defense walls were renewed and expanded to include the shipyards as well . At this point , the fortifications mainly faced eastward ( as can be seen on the 1652 map of Schoonhoven by Joan Blaeu ) , because of the historically strategical location on the border between the County of Holland and the Bishopric of Utrecht . Following the Disaster Year of 1672 , they were reinforced once again and expanded on the west and north sides . Yet in 1816 , when bastion fortifications were no longer relevant to the warfare of the time , they were mostly demolished and made way for a cemetery and a park . Nowadays , most of the city walls and gates too have disappeared . The only remaining medieval entrance gate of Schoonhoven is the '' Veerpoort '' ( Ferry Gate ) that faces the Lek River . This '' Veerpoort '' has protected Schoonhoven from the floods of the river Rhine and from the sea during the devastating North Sea flood of 1953 and is still fully functional as a water barrier today
North Sea flood of 1953
North Sea flood of 1953
Schoonhoven