Kasteelstraat Middelburg

Excavations uncovered the foundations and reveal the contours.

The castle was built from 1448-1450 on the territory of a feudal farm of the Abbey of Middelburg, located in Heille. This farm was purchased for this purpose in 1440 by Pieter Bladelin, who founded the town of Middelburg, named after Middelburg in Zeeland. During the Flemish Revolt against Maximilian in 1488, the castle was severely damaged.

Around 1550 the castle appeared on a map by Jacob van Deventer. It was a moated and basement courtyard, and there was also a courtyard. Around 1750 the castle had fallen into ruin and in the following years it was used as a quarry for the construction of several stables, barns and houses.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, a tram line was built that ran across the territory of the former castle. A depression still indicated the place where the moat once stood. After the Second World War, in which the village was badly hit, emergency housing was built on the site where the courtyard once stood. In the 90s of the twentieth century, the site was severely affected by road construction and housing construction. In 1996, during the road construction, wall work was uncovered, but most of it was destroyed.

From 2002 onwards, excavations were carried out which provided a more detailed picture of the castle. Because the castle was besieged and damaged several times, various repairs were carried out in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, as evidenced by the data from the excavations.

The history of Middelburg and the results of the excavations are presented in a visitor centre.

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