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  4. Dike construction by the Wadden Sea

Dike construction by the Wadden Sea

The 6 meter high dike between Roborghus and Vester Vedsted was built between 1911 and 1915. Hard physical labour and alcohol was part of everyday life of the so-called "Dike roughnecks" who work on the dike. 

Dike construction off Vester Vedsted in 1911. Photo: Vester Vedsted Parish local historical archives.

Need for a dike

With the loss of Southern Jutland in 1864, Denmark lost a third of its acreage and Hedeselskabet was founded in 1866 with a view to supporting soil improvement projects throughout the country. Plantations, meadow irrigation and draining increased the yield. The aim of Ribediget (the Ribe Dike) was to protect crops along the Wadden Sea coast from storm surges. In 1909, the Danish Parliament passed the Dike Law, ensuring the financing of Ribediget, and the 6 meters high dike between Roborghus and Vester Vedsted was built from 1911-1915.

Fløjdiget was built 2 km inland along the Danish-German border with a view to protecting the Vester Vedsted peasant farmers’ fields from the south. Following the Reunification in 1920, the dike was extended down to the new border, standing complete in 1925.

Locks were constructed alongside the rivers. While those on Sneum Å and Kongeåen were self-regulating, the one on Ribe Å was constructed as a chamber lock, with gates and a lift bridge, due to the shipping traffic.

How the Ribe Dike was built

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Dike workers (the socalled "Dike roughnecks")

Police and staff members from the Border Gendarmerie kept track of the dike construction workers, who lived in barracks close to the construction site. Today MYRTHUE - nature, culture & teaching uses one of the barracks, the dike hut (Digehytten), for mediation.

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