Burg Wegberg: A Moated Castle Complex in Germany
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.5
- Popularity
- Low
- Country
- Germany
- Primary era
- Modern
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Medieval, Early Modern, Modern
- Civilizations
- German, Holy Roman Empire
- Site type
- Domestic
- Remains
- Castle
On this page8 sections
History
Burg Wegberg is a medieval moated castle complex in Wegberg, Germany, whose origins trace to a fourteenth-century foundation. Formerly known as Haus Potz and Burg Berck, it stood where the Fußbach and Beecker Bach meet. The site later passed through several noble families before most of its buildings were demolished and the surviving complex was adapted for modern uses.
The Berck and Bongardt Families
The castle was the ancestral seat of the Berck family. Johann von Berck, recorded in 1343, was the family’s last descendant. After his death, his daughter transferred the estate through her marriage to Sibodo von dem Bongardt.
Sophia inherited Burg Wegberg after the death of her father, Sibert von dem Bongardt of Vlatten and Wegberg, in January 1524. Her marriage in 1547 to Johann von Nesselrode of Ehreshoven brought the estate into the Nesselrode family.
Ownership and Modern Change
The Counts of Nesselrode-Ehreshoven retained Burg Wegberg until 1869. In that year, they sold the castle and 600 morgen of land to Kaufmann-Asser of Cologne. A morgen was a historical measure of land whose size varied by region. The new owner divided the property into parcels and resold the castle complex.
Most of the former buildings were later demolished to make room for a modern residential building and a factory. In 1961, the municipality of Wegberg acquired the residential building complex, converted it for restaurant use, and leased it. A fire in 1972 partly destroyed the manor house. The building was subsequently rebuilt and enlarged with modern additions.
The property passed from the city of Wegberg into private ownership in 1995 and is now used as a hotel and restaurant. The surviving castle complex has been protected as a listed monument since 15 April 1985.
Remains
Only a few parts of the former moated castle survive in the center of Wegberg. A water-filled moat encloses the castle area, forming a semicircle along the southern side and a regular U-shape along the northern side. The principal surviving buildings are the central manor house and a square tower southwest of it.
Manor House
Central Manor House
The manor house is a two-storey brick building with a high plinth storey and Gothic Revival decoration. Gothic Revival was a nineteenth-century style that revived forms associated with medieval Gothic architecture. Its gabled roof carries a central turret with a small bell.
Windows with bluestone sills divide the building into nine bays. The central bay projects outward as a risalit, a section integrated into the main wall but extending beyond it, and ends in a small stepped gable. A double-flight external staircase leads to the entrance at the center. The manor house dates from the end of the nineteenth century and incorporates additions made after the 1972 fire.
Gateway Tower
Southwestern Tower
Southwest of the manor house stands a square, two-storey brick tower with a pyramidal roof. Dating from the sixteenth or seventeenth century, it protects a gateway passage with a basket-handle arch, a relatively flat arch formed from several circular arcs.
