Laach Castle (Ruin) (Elsdorf)

A settlement named Laach was first documented in 1141, while the castle itself was first mentioned in 1246. It was a fief of the territorial lords of Jülich and was owned by their vassals. Until the beginning of the 16th century, the fief remained with the von Laach family, before passing to the von Horst family and in 1520 to the von Plettenberg family. In 1610, Anton von Harff was the owner, from whom the castle site passed to Degenhart Wilhelm von der Horst in 1692. He had the complex expanded, but could not cover the costs. Haus Laach was a Gothic half-timbered castle.