Castle Wijnandsrade

Wijnandsrade Castle is a castle located in the basin of the village of the same name, Wijnandsrade, in the Limburg municipality of Nuth. The castle is a national monument.

The current castle is a partially moated building consisting of three wings surrounding a courtyard. The oldest part is the west wing, an originally defensible house built between 1554 and 1563 by the brothers Wilhelm and Werner von dem Bongart. This wing features the original knight's hall with a 16th-century mantelpiece. The southern wing and the eastern wing were commissioned by Baron Joseph Clemens von dem Bongart and constructed between 1717 and 1719. Around 1726, the entrance gate was raised and provided with a dome tower with a lantern, and in 1775, the baronial coat of arms of Von dem Bongart was placed above the entrance gate in the middle of the south façade.

Next to the castle lies a castle farm, the former borchhof, consisting of three wings around a large courtyard. The castle farm has been used for many years as a test farm for the loess soils but has been rented out to various companies since 2006.

Behind the castle lies the motte Wijnandsrade, surrounded by the castle moat. On this artificial hill, the original fortress stood, likely a watchtower. This was established in the 13th century but had to be abandoned when its defensive function became obsolete with the invention of gunpowder. No remnants of this building have been preserved, but the motte is under monument protection.

Michel