Sievernich Castle

Sievernich Castle is located in Sievernich, municipality of Vettweiß in the district of Düren, North Rhine-Westphalia, directly on the Neffelbach river.

In the Middle Ages, the southern half of the village belonged to Kurköln, the northern half to the County of Jülich. Nevertheless, the castle played no role in any of the armed conflicts between the Counts of Jülich and the Archbishops of Cologne. It seems to have been only an insignificant Cologne fief.

The first known lord of the castle, Heinrich von Sievernich, is mentioned in a document in 1153. After 1456, the von Sievernich family died out.

At the beginning of the 15th century, Sievernich Castle was owned by Beatrix von Petersheim. She married Richard II von Merode in 1410, thus bringing the castle into his family. The estate remained the property of the Merode family for about 250 years until it finally changed hands through the marriage of Judith von Merode to the Dutch nobleman Cornelius van Gent. Maria, the daughter of this couple, married Bertram von Quadt-Wickrath in 1674. Around 1780, this family sold the castle to the von Wylich family. Through inheritance, the estate came into the possession of Duisburg city court director Witgen in 1798.

After several further changes of ownership, the Schwecht family, who still own Sievernich Castle today, bought the estate in 1841.

Sievernich Castle is a large, regular moated castle with a three-winged main castle and a likewise three-winged outer bailey. The main building fabric of the complex dates from the 15th to 18th centuries. Around 1860, Sievernich Castle underwent significant structural changes under the patronage of the Schwecht family. The stair tower at the rear of the main castle and its side wings were renewed at that time. The gatehouse of the outer bailey also dated from this period, but was destroyed in 1941 and replaced by a new building.

The old Roman military road from Zülpich to Neuss runs directly past the castle. It was crossed in the village by the Coronation Road Aachen-Frankfurt am Main.

The owners now operate a Trakehner stud farm on the estate.