Velen Castle

Velen Castle is a moated castle centrally located in the centre of Velen in the Münsterland region in the district of Borken. The moated castle characterises the townscape of Velen.

Around 1240, Hermann I and his son Konrad von Velen were mentioned as the owners of Velen Castle. The family of the Lords of Velen died out at the end of the 13th century. The castle passed to the Lords of Barnsfeld, who called themselves the Lords of Velen from 1311 onwards. In the course of a feud, the castle was conquered in 1371 by the Bishop of Münster, Florence von Wevelinghoven, and as a result of the reconciliation that took place a year later, the castle became a fief of the Bishopric of Münster. During the Thirty Years' War, the castle was captured and plundered by Ernst von Mansfeld's troops in 1627. In 1756, Anna Theresia von Velen transferred the castle and manor to her husband Clemens August von Landsberg zu Erwitte. The castle is still owned by the Landsberg-Velen family, which was raised to the rank of count in 1840. Between 1935 and about 1944, the castle was occupied by a customs school of the Reich Finance Administration. During the Second World War, the castle was used as a military hospital, and after the war also as a retirement home. The Customs School was revived in the 1960s. From 1988 to 2018, the castle was used as a hotel under the name SportSchloss Velen.

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