The Leidse Rijn is a canal in the province of Utrecht

Utrecht (province)

Utrecht is the smallest province of the Netherlands in terms of area, and is located in the centre of the country. It is bordered by the Eemmeer in the north, Gelderland in the east, the river Rhine in the south, South Holland in the west, and North Holland in the northwest...

, Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

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It was dug since the Middle Ages when the meandering old Rhine course silted up.

The Leidse Rijn has a length of 13 km. Towns along the Leidse Rijn are De Meern

De Meern

De Meern is a former town in the Dutch province of Utrecht. It is a part of the city of Utrecht, and lies about 5 km west of it. In 2001, it became together with Vleuten, a city part of Utrecht called Vleuten-De Meern....

 and Harmelen

Harmelen

Harmelen is a town in the Dutch province of Utrecht. It is a part of the municipality of Woerden, and lies about 6 km east of Woerden.In 2001, the town of Harmelen had 6557 inhabitants...

. While still in Utrecht city the Leidse Rijn crosses the Merwede Canal and the Amsterdam-Rhine Canal

Amsterdam-Rhine Canal

The Amsterdam–Rhine Canal or Amsterdam-Rijnkanaal is a canal in the Netherlands that was built to connect the port city of Amsterdam to the main shipping artery of the Rhine...

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It is the continuation of the Kromme Rijn

Kromme Rijn

The Kromme Rijn is a river in Utrecht , Netherlands.In Roman times, this northernmost branch of the Rhine delta was the main distributary of this major European river...

 (Crooked Rhine) through the moat

Moat

A moat is a deep, broad ditch, either dry or filled with water, that surrounds a castle, other building or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. In some places moats evolved into more extensive water defences, including natural or artificial lakes, dams and sluices...

 system of Utrecht. The canal ends in Harmelen. There it connects to the Oude Rijn, which eventually flows into the North Sea

North Sea

In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...

 at Katwijk aan Zee

Katwijk aan Zee

Katwijk aan Zee is a seaside resort located on the North Sea at the mouth of the Oude Rijn. It is situated in the municipality of Katwijk and the province of South Holland.- History :...

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The canal gives its name to the Utrecht neighborhood of Leidsche Rijn

Leidsche Rijn

Leidsche Rijn is a neighbourhood under construction west of Utrecht in the central Netherlands. The neighbourhood is expected to be completed in 2025 and will have approximately 80,000 inhabitants....

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History

Since the beginning of our era, the old course of the Rhine between Utrecht and Harmelen became increasingly more difficult to navigate. The building of a dam in the Kromme Rijn in 1122 led to a silting up of the old Rhine below Utrecht, especially as it meandered through very flat terrain.

Already in the early Middle Ages (ca. 700) a canal from Utrecht to Vleuten

Vleuten

Vleuten is a former village in the Dutch province of Utrecht. It is a part of the city of Utrecht, and lies about 6 km west of it. In 2001, it became together with De Meern, a city part of Utrecht called Vleuten-De Meern. Vleuten has a railway station on the line between Utrecht and Woerden.In...

 was dug. When the part Vleuten-Harmelen ultimately became too narrow and winding as well, in 1381 the Oude Rijn (Old Rhine) canal (Harmelen-Utrecht) was dug.

Under the expansion plans of the Utrecht city mayor Hendrick Moreelse in 1662-1665 a new shortcut was dug, the Leidse Rijn, connecting to where the Oude Rijn canal made a curve to the northeast. At the place where the new canal connected to the Oude Rijn the nobleman Everard Meyster built an estate called Oog in Al

Oog in Al

Oog in Al is a residential area in the west of the city of Utrecht in the Netherlands. The Amsterdam-Rhine Canal, the Merwede Canal and the Leidse Rijn canal form the area's limits, rendering it a man-made island in the shape of a triangle....

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Eventually the name Leidse Rijn came to be used for the whole section Utrecht-Harmelen.