Loersfeld Castle

Loersfeld Castle is located in Kerpen, North Rhine-Westphalia. The castle was built in the 15th century and has been owned by the Barons von Fürstenberg since 1819.

As early as 1262, the property of the Lords of Loersfeld, situated between the present nature reserves Loersfelder Busch and Parrig, was documented. At the time of its first mention, the Loersfeld estate belonged to the knight Eberhard von Belle and his wife Hildegunde, who sold 30 morgen (approximately 7.5 hectares) of arable land at their estate in Lodervelt, situated near the Bottenbroich monastery. Since the purchase contract was completed in Kerpen and Johann von Kerpen co-sealed it as the lord of the manor, Loersfeld evidently belonged to the Kerpen lordship at that time. From then on, Loersfeld was part of the County of Kerpen and Lommersum until the time of the French. Subsequently, in the 14th century, Loersfeld first came into the possession of the Merode family and later, through marriage, passed to the von Horn family, who then adopted the additional name "called von Loersfeld." In 1435, Heinrich Spies von Büllesheim zu Bodendorf became the owner of the estate. Loersfeld remained in the hands of this family, which belonged to the old nobility of the Duchy of Jülich, for the following 140 years, during which the present manor house was built, until it went to the von Eynatten family in 1559 for 86 years. In 1665, the castle was sold to Dietrich von Leers. Around 1770, it was acquired by the Cologne merchant Caspar Wilhelm von Hamm, from whom it passed after the death of his daughter Anna Catharina in 1795 to her husband Georg Albert Reinecker. The present outer bailey was constructed in 1771, replacing a predecessor building. Reinecker eventually sold Loersfeld, along with all buildings and associated lands, on June 5, 1819, to the Westphalian hereditary chief Friedrich Leopold Reichsfreiherr von Fürstenberg zu Herdringen. His sixth son, Franz Adolph Josef, born on June 28, 1805, was the first Fürstenberg to make Loersfeld his residence.
In addition to extensive construction measures in the years 1840 and 1865, he also had the park landscaped in the English style to a total area of ten hectares.
When he died on February 14, 1880, as a Royal Chamberlain and Castle Captain of Benrath Castle, his estate passed to his nephew Friedrich Leopold II. von Fürstenberg.
After his death, in 1901, his son Clemens, born at Borbeck Castle, inherited the Loersfeld property, which he, together with his wife Therese, born Countess von Korff neé Schmising, made his residence in Loersfeld. Their only son Clemens August renounced his inheritance in 1938, so that Loersfeld passed to the main line of Fürstenberg-Hugenpoet in 1941. The current owner is Maximilian Freiherr von Fürstenberg-Hugenpoet. Loersfeld Castle is situated in the midst of a well-maintained ten-hectare English landscape park and is considered one of the most beautiful castle complexes in Germany. Members of the family lived in the castle until 1954; since 1960, it has been leased to the Bellefontaine family. The tenant Thomas Bellefontaine has been running a restaurant in the manor house since 1992, which was awarded a Michelin star from 1999 to 2019. In 2022, the restaurant was again awarded a Michelin star.

Wikipedia