House Hülsdonk

Haus Hülsdonk was a former fortified knight's seat in Kleinkempen in what is now Wekel in the town of Willich .

history

The name of the estate is derived from hulus (= piercing oak or husk ) and Donk .

Hülsdonker Hof

The complex was surrounded as a moated castle with ramparts and ditches and served as a refuge for the population , for example during the Truchsessian War , when many villages and farms in the surrounding area were looted and destroyed . In the course of the 17th century, with the further development of the artillery, the importance of the complex as a defense structure was lost and the crenellated walls and towers were dismantled and converted into a more homely manor house with high windows. At that time the complex included a manor house, a chapel and an agricultural farm.

The estate was a fief of the Electoral Cologne office Kempen . The oldest surviving historical evidence of the complex is the documentary naming of the knight Pilgrimus von Hülsdonk in 1272. Ownership of the property changed between various nobles, most recently to Count Ambrosius Franz von Virmont zu Neersen . Once this had died childless in 1744 fell House Hülsdonk 1768 after a long legal battle with his widow Maria Elisabeth von Nesselrode as home fief of the Electorate of Cologne back. In 1794, the region was occupied by France in the First Coalition War and Haus Hülsdonk was also drafted by the French state in 1802 at the latest. In 1803 the last electoral Cologne bailiff from Neersen and Hülsdonk, Josef Lenders , bought the estate. He had the mansion and the chapel demolished and sold the remaining farmyard. This, also called "Hülsdonkhof" or "Hülsdonker Hof", has been preserved to this day.

literature

• History of the city of Willich and its old communities. Willicher Kulturstiftung der Sparkasse Krefeld, 2003, ISBN 3933969344 .

Web link

• Hülsdonk website

Coordinates: 51 ° 15 ′ 16.7 ″  N , 6 ° 31 ′ 24.6 ″  E