Old Castle (Ruin) (Padberg)

The Old Padberg Castle, also called Oberhaus Padberg, was a hilltop castle in Padberg (city of Marsberg) on the 520 m high Altenhagen mountain. Today it is a castle ruin.

The Padberg estate was first mentioned in 1030. The Counts of Padberg built their castle on the Altenhagen mountain at the beginning of the 12th century. But as early as 1120, after the extinction of the older line of the Counts of Padberg, the fief and the castle reverted to the Archbishops of Cologne. They re-assigned the property. It fell to a ministerial family later also called von Padberg. In 1217, Gottschalk II von Padberg was forced to open the castle as an Offenhaus to the Archbishops of Cologne. In the 14th century, a split occurred into the Old House Padberg and the New House Padberg. The latter built its own castle on the Neuenhagen, which was also called Unterhaus Padberg. In the feud between the Archbishopric of Cologne and the County of Waldeck over the castles of Nordenau and Canstein, the old castle was temporarily occupied by Cologne in 1342. The Lords of Padberg belonged to various knightly leagues in the 14th century, including the Bengler League. During a feud against the Prince-Bishopric of Paderborn, the city of Padberg was destroyed in 1391 and 1394. However, the castles withstood various sieges. In the 15th century, the Lords of Padberg had to cede most of their dominion to Waldeck. Later, for the rest of their possessions, they had to recognize the sovereignty of the Archbishops of Cologne (or Dukes of Westphalia). Both castles fell into disrepair and were probably uninhabitable since the 1530s. The Lords of Padberg moved to new locations near the town of Padberg.