Lime kiln - Katwijk - the Netherlands - Ovens and Kilns on Waymarking.com

The largest lime factory in the Netherlands has been productive for 35 years in Katwijk. The lime kilns were built in 1934 and demolished in september 1971. All but this one: it has been left as an industrial monument, to show offspring how the ancestry earned their living. At another place in the Netherlands some ovens are still in use. They supply the lime that is used for renovation of old buildings.

Although the Katwijkers had been active in limescale for centuries, around the turn of the century the Brothers Huig and Maarten Ouwehand in particular were very skilled at this. Their sons, Willem and Arie Ouwehand had the largest limestone kilns in the Netherlands built in the thirties.

Making shells into lime was an accurate process. In short, it came down to the fact that the shells were heated to more than 1000 degrees Celsius. During this process the fire had to be checked regularly in order to get the correct temperature trend. This was a very hot job. The shells were heated for several hours by the burning anthracite and then they were removed from the oven through the holes at the bottom and brought to the extinguishing floor. There they were cooled down to 100 to 150 degrees Celsius. Then they were sprayed with water. When the shells came into contact with this water, they fell apart as powder.

The amount of spray water was fixed. If too little water was used, the shells did not completely dissolve into powder. If too much water was used, the shell lime immediately hardened into an unusable lump.

The powder was then collected and further cooled. This powder was the famous shell lime, which when exposed to water again hardened to a hard mass, the cement lime.

Type of Oven / Kiln: Lime / Limestone Status: Historical Site Operating Dates: 1934-1971 Additional Coordinate: Not Listed Additional Coordinate Description: Not listed Website: Not listed

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Date Logged Log User Rating   08/15/2021 Axel-F visited it 03/20/2019 pdegiete visited it 03/12/2019 eilers1 visited it

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