Blessem Castle

Verified information about the castle and its owners exists since 1363, when Elector Adolf von der Mark enfeoffed Ludwig von Blessem as castellan of Lechenich with the castle, referred to as Hof zu Blessem.

After several inheritances, the estate came into the possession of the Scheiffart von Merode family, based in Bornheim near Bonn, in 1434 through the marriage of Iburg, the daughter of Wilhelm von Vlatten, to Friedrich Scheiffart von Merode, and remained in their possession for generations. After several sales, it came into the possession of Adam von Hambroich and his wife Catharina Spieß von Büllesheim in 1611. The estate, described as a noble residence, did not meet the quality of a knight's seat. Adam von Hambroich, his widow, and subsequent owners tried in vain to have the estate recognized as a tax-exempt knight's seat and thus be freed from war burdens. Katharina von Meinerzhagen, the heiress of the estate, sold the property in 1696 together with her husband Franz von Quentel, the owner of the Weiße Burg in Friesheim, to the Prior and Convent of the Dominican Monastery "Zum heiligen Kreuz" in Cologne.

As a result of secularization, the estate of the Dominican monastery, including the house, buildings, garden, orchard, meadows, and over 50 hectares of arable land, was expropriated as ecclesiastical property in 1802 and sold in 1808 to Johann Wilhelm Meyer from Cologne.

The owner, a daughter of the former castle owner Armin Osterrieth, lives in the "castle" in the now restored manor house, which was built in 1898 as an annex to the outer bailey wing.

The gatehouse wing and the adjacent stables have been converted into a residential complex. Two riding stables with newly built stables are operated on the castle grounds.