Ockenfels Castle

Ockenfels Castle, originally Burg zur Leyen, is a castle near Ockenfels in the district of Linz am Rhein in the Neuwied district of Rhineland-Palatinate.

The hilltop castle is located on the edge of a moderately sloping spur above the Rhine on a small elevation near Linz am Rhein. The Rheinsteig trail leads directly to Ockenfels Castle on the stage from Unkel to Leubsdorf.

Burg zur Leyen, as it was originally called, dates back to the early 13th century. It was the ancestral seat of the "Lords zur Leyen" and was beholden to the Archdiocese of Cologne. In 1239, a manor in Oberwillscheid is attested as a fiefdom of the "Lords zur Leyen". In 1341, it was owned by the knight Johann von der Leyen. In 1420, the von der Leyen family died out in the male line and the property passed to Rolman von Dattenberg. In 1439, the castle became the property of Dittrich von Monreal through the marriage of his daughter Anna von Dattenberg, whose descendants held the property until 1623. In 1475, the castle was destroyed by troops of Charles the Bold of Burgundy during the Cologne Diocesan Feud. In 1609, the castle was owned by Johann Adam von Hoheneck as a "Strong Fortress". In 1615, Elector Ferdinand of Cologne certified that Eberhard Heinrich von Hoheneck was solely enfeoffed with the "Monreal'schen estates". Childless, he sold the castle with all its fiefdoms in 1623 to the Electoral Cologne Council and Court Controller Georg von Gerolt, who settled in Linz am Rhein. In 1624, Georg von Gerolt was enfeoffed with the castle by the Elector. In 1887, the family died out with Friedrich Josef von Gerolt and the castle became the property of the housing cooperative "Rheinisches Heim". In 1912, the castle came into the district of the city of Linz with the incorporation of Linzhausen and became the property of the city of Linz six years later. In 1924, Vice Consul Franz Delden acquired the ruin and had it rebuilt under the direction of Heinrich Reinhardt until 1927, taking into account existing building fabric, as a castle house in its present form.