The second City Wall

During the 15th century, all the field gates were significantly reinforced. Some with two flanking towers, others, with a barbacane or bridge entrenchment, which for the Brussels Gate took the form of an imposing defensive work. 

The gates had a floor from which a portcullis, the so-called organ, could be lowered into the passageway. The towers were almost all covered with a spire. On the earthen wall, whose sloping outer slope deprived the enemy of the advantage of the blind spot, the wall rose.

The second City Wall

The second enceinte also carried a weather wall on the city side. These were pillars, connected by arches (counters), from which, through firing slits in the battlements, one bombarded the enemy. The second enceinte began west of Helpoort at "the Tower behind the Falie sisters." When it was restored and partially rebuilt about 1906, this tower, was given the erroneous name Father Vinck Tower. This wall ran past "the Long Tower" on the southwest corner and "the Tongers Gate" with an irregular arc to its westernmost point, "the Brussels Gate." From here the wall ran in a more or less straight line to the northeast.

A piece past "the Linden Cross Gate," the wall curved to the east, to reach the Meuse past "the Hochter- or Boschpoort," through the tower "Achter de Biesen." Then the wall followed the bank of the river, up to the "Veerlinxpoort", in the first enclosure.

The second walling in Wyck also took shape in hardstone, but as mentioned earlier was of smaller size.