Böckum Manor

The name Böckum is derived from Hof zu den Buchen (Farm of the Beeches) and can thus be traced back to the beech forest that formerly extended to Böckum.

The moated castle was a fief of the Counts of Berg. The first documentary mention dates from 1369. Hermann von der Seldung (also Hermann von der Seeldonck or Hermann von Schlickum), bailiff of Angermund from 1371 to 1391, then pledged his farm "zu den Buchen". This same Hermann was still in possession of Böckum in 1402 when he drew up his will. Shortly thereafter, he died. Böckum came to the Lords of Ulenbroich through his daughter. Shortly thereafter, in 1405, Böckum was destroyed by Cologne mercenaries during the Kalkum Feuds (see Haus Remberg).

From at least 1440 to approx. 1760, the Lords of Buer were owners of Böckum. First Hermann von Buir, who was married to Agnes von Uhlenbroich. Around 1500, their son Heinrich was the owner, and around 1540, his son Hermann. Until 1608, Hermann's son Johann von Buir (also von Bawyr) was the owner, and in 1609, Johann's nephew, Johann Hermann von Bawyr, Lord of Boekem, Romlian and Frankenberg (Aachen). In 1644, Johann Hermann's son Johann von Bawyr, who married the heiress Maria von Scheidt called Weschpfennig zu Heltorf in 1636, was the owner. After Johann von Bawyr's death in 1647, his son Johann Friedrich von Bawyr succeeded him until 1681. Johann's widow, Maria Freiin von Scheidt, married Baron Friedrich Christian von Spee at Haus Böckum in 1649.

In 1661, Johann Bertram von Scheid called Weschpfennig reported to his son-in-law Friedrich Christian von Spee about a planned new building for Haus Böckum. Thereafter, Haus Böckum belonged to General Friedrich Ferdinand Ignatz (Bawyr) von Frankenberg, son of Johann Friedrich von Bawyr, who requested timber in 1708. In the meantime, in 1702, during the siege of Kaiserswerth in the War of the Spanish Succession, the farm buildings had burned down.

After the Buer/Bawyr line died out in the male line in the mid-18th century, the house was sold by the heirs in 1767 to Theodor von Hallberg. He appointed the couple Peter Blumenkamp and Catharina Christina Broickerhoff as half-tenants at Haus Böckum. In 1801, the Ratingen industrialist and commercial councilor Johann Gottfried Brügelmann bought the house. After his death in 1802, it passed to his son of the same name, Johann Gottfried jun. After his death in 1808, his daughter Charlotte inherited the house. In 1856, as the widow of Karl Heinrich Engelbert von Oven, she sold the house to the Count von Spee, whose family still owns it today.

Haus Böckum also included the Stroetrecht (from "Stroet" for shrub, bush, thicket). This was the right to keep wild horses in the forest, which actually only belonged to the Duke of Berg.

The U-shaped complex today was built in several construction phases. The oldest section is the eastern part of the building with a tower of unplastered brick with a curved, slate-covered dome. This part, including the gatehouse and the brick stone bridge leading to it, which replaced an earlier drawbridge, was built in 1661 as a manor house and replaced an older castle complex that stood on the now undeveloped, northern part of the moated castle complex. The other parts of the building, dating from the 18th and 19th centuries, are agricultural utility buildings.

The entire complex has been a protected monument since June 27, 1991. To this day, Haus Böckum is used for poultry farming.