Böckum Manor

In Duisburg-Huckingen, Haus Böckum is a historic manor and estate house, the last remaining moated castle within the Duisburg city area.

The first documented mention of the property occurred in 1369, when Hermann von der Seldung pledged his farm, Hof zu den Buchen. This name is also the origin of the name Böckum and refers to a former beech forest. In 1405, Böckum was destroyed by Cologne mercenaries during the Kalkum Feuds. From approximately 1440 to 1760, the estate was owned by the von Buer, later Bawyr, family. In 1661, a new construction of the manor house was planned after the farm buildings burned down in 1702 during the Siege of Kaiserswerth. After the male line of the von Buer/Bawyr family died out, the property passed to Theodor von Hallberg in 1767. In 1801, the industrialist Johann Gottfried Brügelmann acquired the house, which after his death passed to his daughter Charlotte, who sold it in 1856 to the Counts von Spee, who remain the owners to this day.