Blankenhagen Castle
| Blankenhagen Castle | ||
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 Main hill of the former castle |
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| Creation time : | around 1200 | |
| Castle type : | Niederungsburg, moth | |
| Conservation status: | Burgstall, two castle mounds | |
| Standing position : | Nobles | |
| Place: | Grethem | |
| Geographical location | 52 ° 43 '49.3 " N , 9 ° 35' 5.1" E | |
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The Blankenhagen Castle is a defunct tower castle (Motte), the remains of which can be found near the Aller near Grethem in Lower Saxony . The castle is believed to have been built around 1200. Buildings that were previously fortified are to be assumed on the two castle hills, and a former outer bailey is suspected on island-like raised areas in advance .
location
The castle stood in the meadow landscape of the Allerniederung around half a kilometer northeast of Grethem. Today it lies in the middle between the Alte Leine (200 m west) and the Aller (400 m east). It can be reached via a dirt road that leads to the ferry station over the Aller to Eickeloh .
description
Of the two remaining castle hills without any stone remains, the higher one today has a diameter of around 25 m. It is around 4.5 m high and consists of bushes. The hill is surrounded by a hollow, which is likely to be the former inner moat . About 40 m further northeast is another, artificially raised hill. It has a triangular shape and is around 30 m long. It has a height of 3 m and is also covered with bushes.
Both hills were surrounded by a circular rampart, which is only partially preserved. Today it is about 1.3 m high and 13 m wide. In front of it is a depression, which should have been an outer ditch. In the vicinity of the castle, raised areas like islands were found on which a bailey could have been.
In the Kurhannoverschen Landesaufnahme from 1779 the castle is shown. It is also shown as a semicircular wall in the Prussian land survey around 1900.
Archaeological research
The Burgstall was mapped in 2002 to record the cultural monuments, which was followed by increased prospecting from 2004 . This included magnetometer inspections , photos from aerial archeology and the creation of an elevation model . In 2005, safety work was carried out on the main hill, as cattle grazing had caused damage from being stepped on.
history
The castle is not mentioned in a document. It is said to have been founded by the Lords of Blankena (Blankenhagen), who were closely related to those of Hodenberg . The Lords of Blankenhagen are mentioned in a document in connection with Hodenhagen Castle in the middle of the 13th century. Their gender is said to be extinct soon.
Similar fortifications in the vicinity
In the lower area of the Aller there were a number of other medieval castles, some of a similar design, which existed only a few kilometers apart. These include fortifications in Bierde ( Bierde Castle ), Ahlden (Aller) ( Bunkenburg ), Essel ( Uhlenburg ) ( Blankenburg ), Hodenhagen ( Hodenhagen Castle ) and Rethem (Aller) ( Rethem Castle ).
Blankenhagen Castle is one of the former castles that were examined in more detail between 2003 and 2005 in the Burgenlandschaft Aller-Leine-Tal (BALT) project . The project was supported, among other things, by the European LEADER + funding program , as the castle complex is located in the Aller-Leine-Tal region.
literature
- Castles in the river , publisher: Landkreis Soltau-Fallingbostel, Bad Fallingbostel 2005, ISBN 3-00-017281-5
Web links
- Entry by Stefan Eismann about Blankenhagen Castle in the scientific database " EBIDAT " of the European Castle Institute