Erprath Castle

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Erprath Castle
Alternative name (s): Erprather Castle, Kyburg, Kielburg
Castle type : Niederungsburg, moth
Conservation status: Moth and tower remains
Place: Weckhoven
Geographical location 51 ° 9 '27.7 "  N , 6 ° 41' 16.8"  E Coordinates: 51 ° 9 '27.7 "  N , 6 ° 41' 16.8"  E

The castle Erprath even Erprather castle , Kyburg and Kiel Castle called, is the ruin of a moth in Weckhoven in North Rhine-Westphalia Rhein-Kreis Neuss . The castle area is located in the corner of the mouth of the Gillbach in the Erft about 850 meters west of the Weckhoven church St. Paulus.

history

Engraving of Erprath Castle by the Hogenberg brothers, 1585

The castle was built in the 13th century and belonged to the von Erprath family. It was the center of an independent rule that was called in 1391 as "Erproide". After the Lords of Erprath died out in the 14th century, the property passed to the Counts of Virneburg . On December 21, 1405, Ruprecht von Virneburg sold the castle and all the associated glories to Archbishop Friedrich III of Cologne . from Saar Werden . The complex subsequently served as a state castle in the Electorate of Cologne .

The castle was destroyed in the Truchsessian War in 1586. An engraving by the brothers Abraham and Frans Hogenberg from 1585 tells of their previous occupation by Saxon troops .

Today there are only a few remains of the facility, which are looked after by the Weckhoven local history association. They were archaeologically examined in 1984 . It turned out that the residential tower of the castle had been built from Roman demolition material. Additionally, where the excavation between the inner castle and the outer bailey of residues Palisade found oak planks and a bridge.

description

Erprath Castle, January 2020

The castle stood behind the Erpather mill across from the Eppinghoven monastery on the right bank of the Erft near a ford through the river between Selikum and Erprath . Their name meant "clearing on the Erft". It was a two-part system, consisting of a core castle with a residential tower on a motte and a bailey about 20 meters southwest of it. This was on a one to two meter high, approximately 20 × 30 meter plateau that slopes down in terraces to the Erft and Gillbach . On its southeast side, a five to seven meter wide section of the former moat is still preserved, which is now swampy .

The artificial castle mound (Motte), which is four meters high and has a diameter of 18 meters at its base, has been preserved from the main castle. On its south side there is a 4.8 meter high and 6.5 meter long section of brick and tuff stone . These are the remains of the 6.9 × 7.7 meter residential tower, which had walls one meter thick. Excavations have shown that the tower was mothballed, which means that its walls were first built and then the castle hill was filled in all around.

literature

  • Stefan Frankewitz: State castles, forts, palaces and fortress houses up to 1500 as reflected in the written documents (= Historical Atlas of the Rhineland. Volume IV, No. 12). Habelt, Bonn 2007, ISBN 978-3-7749-3519-8 , pp. 44-45.
  • Brigitte Janssen, Walter Janssen: Castles, palaces and court festivals in the Neuss district. District administration Neuss, Neuss 1980, ISBN 3-9800327-0-1 , p. 111.
  • Karl Emerich Krämer : From castle to castle on the Lower Rhine. Volume 1. 4th edition. Mercator, Duisburg 1982, ISBN 3-87463-057-9 , p. 12.

Web links

Commons : Burg Erprath  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Entry by Katrin Striewe on Erprath Castle in the scientific database " EBIDAT " of the European Castle Institute
  2. ↑ a b c d e f Brigitte Janssen, Walter Janssen: Castles, palaces and court festivals in the Neuss district. 1980, p. 111.
  3. ↑ Stefan Frankewitz: Landesburgen, Burgen, Schlösser und Feste houses up to 1500 in the mirror of the written documents 2007, p. 44.
  4. ^ City of Neuss (ed.): Neuss am Rhein. The districts - piece by piece: Weckhofen. Neusser Druckerei und Verlag, Neuss 2003, p. 8 ( PDF ; 812 kB).