Old Castle Hardenberg

Hardenberg Castle, also known locally as the Old Castle, is the ruin of a hilltop castle on a 247-meter high mountain spur between the districts of Neviges and Tönisheide in Velbert. Above ground, nothing remains of the former castle except for a mound and a rampart.

A first excavation in 1888 under the direction of architect Gerhard August Fischer uncovered an approximately square castle area with rounded corners, surrounded on three sides by a moat and protected by a ring wall. Access was via an eastern drawbridge.

On the northeastern side of the mountain, a shield wall protected the two main buildings behind it with slate roofs; a third was located in the western corner. In the center of the area stood a square keep with ten-meter sides and 2.5-meter thick walls, made of regular bossed ashlar with marginal dressing. The masonry of the other buildings consisted primarily of horizontally laid rubble stones of greywacke and slate. All buildings were plastered.

In 1978, gilded parts (spoon, fitting) were found during an inspection, which, like the Brohltal trass, a natural pozzolan, occasionally used as a building material, indicates noble inhabitants.

No later than the beginning of the 13th century, the castle was destroyed by fire. It was the ancestral castle of the Hardenberg family, who later lived about 800 meters further northeast at Hardenberg Castle. However, this is not – as a local legend claims – connected to the Old Castle by a secret passage. Nor were its stones used as building material for the castle.