Wittringen Castle

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The palace complex from the north
Entire palace complex on the lake side

The Wittringen , also home Wittringen called, is a moated castle in the North Rhine-Westphalian city of Gladbeck on the southwestern edge of the leisure center Wittringen . Its roots go back to the 13th century.

The once diet enabled knight seat of Vests Recklinghausen saw many different owners, including the families of throughout its history Brabeck , of Oeffte and Vittinghoff -Schell. Today the complex is owned by the city and is home to a museum and a restaurant. It has been a listed building since 1984 .

description

The main building

Wittringen Castle stands on an almost rectangular castle island, which is connected by a bridge to the smaller so-called bird island to the west. Both are surrounded by a common, broad moat that expands to form a pond in the south. There used to be a fortified moth on the bird island, which can be seen as the predecessor of today's castle .

On the larger of the two islands, the site of today's castle, was once the outer ward , a stake rust -Incorporation that of strong defensive walls was surrounded. In the north there is a two-storey half - timbered house with a tile-covered gable roof . It is the former manor house, faithfully rebuilt according to old documents . A single-storey gate from 1706 adjoins it to the east , and a reconstructed drawbridge leads to its arched portal with house surrounds . A coat of arms stone can be found in a triangular gable above its archway . Inside there was still a castle chapel in 1850 with a small portable house altar, which the owner family had brought to Kalbeck Castle near Goch at the beginning of the 20th century . Both the half-timbered building and the gate construction stand on the foundations of previous medieval buildings .

On the east side of the island is the main building made of brick, in the style of historicism , with two massive round towers at the western corners. It is a new creation from the first half of the 20th century. Particularly noteworthy are its courtyard-side arcade on the ground floor, the historicizing stepped gable and the elongated balustrade on the first floor.

history

Aerial view of the moated castle Wittringen in the city of Gladbeck.

The first mention of a noble family who called themselves "von Wittringen" can be found in a document from 1263, which names a knight named Ludolfus de Witteringe. He is considered to be the likely builder of the former castle , the time of which, however, cannot be dated. Ludolfus de Witteringe came from the family of those von Horst , who came from the glory Horst in the Emscherbruch . On August 25, 1337 Ludolfus' grandson Philip was from Wittringen his house the Klever Count Dietrich to feudal and presents him as an open house available. Since Philip had no sons, the estate came by marriage to Heinrich von Bracht Becke , 1394 as Ride is documented in the castle. The Brabeckers later took the name of their new property and called themselves only "von Wittringen". The three Wolfsangeln from the Brabeck family coat of arms were added to the left flank of the Gladbeck city coat of arms in 1919.

In 1438 Ernst von Oeffte, a son-in-law of Heinrich von Wittringen, was enfeoffed with half of Wittringen by Duke Adolf von Kleve . The other half went to Heinrich's brother Roseyr, who sold his share to Dietrich von Westrem in 1447. Dietrich's grandson Rutger later sold again to Konstantin von Oeffte, who became the sole owner of Wittringen because he already owned the other half. However, the castle only remained in the family's possession for around 20 years, as Dirk von Oeffte gave it to the knight Jakob von Capellen in 1540 on the occasion of his engagement to Dirk's daughter. He also did not demand this gift back when his daughter married another man against his will, and so the house remained Capellen's property until 1697.

The Thirty Years War did not leave Wittringen without a trace: In 1642 it was sacked by Hessian mercenaries and completely destroyed. The facility was then rebuilt around 1650. The two-story mansion was built on the west side of the Vorburginsel. From 1761 a newly built tenant house belonged to the building stock, which according to old documents was also called "Brawhaus". In the meantime, the manor house served as the rent master's apartment.

Half-timbered building, former manor house

In 1697 Wittringen came into the possession of Baron Johann Arnold von Vittinghoff called Schell zu Schellenberg . He had the facility changed after 1703 and new buildings built. In 1922 his descendant Friedrich August von Vittinghof-Schell sold the complex including 450  acres of surrounding land and forest property for 3.75 million marks to the city of Gladbeck, which had the property completely renovated in the 1920s . In the course of the work, the mansion was laid down and faithfully rebuilt according to old plans from the Hugenpoet Castle archives . The stucco ceilings in the building were molded in plaster so that they could be re-attached in their original form in the new building. During the construction work, only the castle fountain, the old kitchen and a chimney remained of the old structure. The former tenant house was torn down as well as the old barn on the east side of the complex to make space for today's main building in the style of the Lower Rhine Renaissance .

The half-timbered building has housed the Gladbeck City Museum with natural, mining and urban history collections since 1928. A restaurant has found space in the main building. At the same time there is a wedding room of the Gladbeck registry office.

The bird island reopened its doors after complete renovation in 2005 and shows parrots and other exotic species. A half-timbered building from 1950 with a small exhibition aquarium adjoining the manor house in the southwest was demolished in 2004.

literature

Web links

Commons : Wittringen Castle  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ W. Schneider: House Wittringen , p. 3.
  2. ^ W. Schneider: Haus Wittringen , p. 16.
  3. ↑ Kleve-Mark deeds 1223–1368 Regest of the holdings of Kleve-Mark deeds in the North Rhine-Westphalian main state archive in Düsseldorf, edit. v. Wolf-Rüdiger Schleidgen, Series C, Vol. 13, Siegburg 1983, No. 223, pp. 128–129, Confirmed in the literature by Ludger Tewes , Mittelalter an Lippe und Ruhr, 2nd edition Essen 1988, p. 126, Note 54 ISBN 3-920460-40-5 also with reference to Lacomblet, Urkundenbuch des Niederrheins, III, no. 314
  4. ^ W. Schneider: Haus Wittringen , p. 19.
  5. ^ W. Schneider: Haus Wittringen , p. 8.
  6. ↑ Gregor Spohr, Wolfgang Schukze: Beautiful palaces and castles. The district leisure guide . Pomp , Essen / Bottrop 1996, ISBN 3-89355-133-6 , p. 60.
  7. ^ Josef Bieker: Castles in the Revier. Romance between winding towers . 2nd Edition. Harenberg, Dortmund 1989, ISBN 3-88379-586-0 , p. 338.

Coordinates: 51 ° 33 ′ 34.7 "  N , 6 ° 58 ′ 52.5"  E