Auburg Castle

The Auburg is a listed building in the municipality of Wagenfeld in the Lower Saxon district of Diepholz.

In Wagenfeld, the Counts of Diepholz had a fortified castle named Auburg built at the end of the 15th century on the Wagenfelder Aue, a small tributary of the Hunte. This moated castle, located on an island between a diverted arm of the Aue and the Wagenfelder Aue, was intended to deter the neighboring Mindener, who regularly invaded the area at that time. However, they felt provoked by the construction of the Auburg and subsequently destroyed it several times.

A legal dispute over the territorial affiliation of the Auburg office broke out when Count Friedrich II of Diepholz, not even 30 years old, died in 1585. The Auburg residents ultimately paid homage to the Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel as their new sovereign in the same year.

In 1592, Philipp Wilhelm von Cornberg, an illegitimate son of the Hessian Landgrave Wilhelm IV, was enfeoffed with the Auburg office and the village of Wagenfeld. The last owner from this family was Theodor von Cornberg, who sold the building in 1904 to the Osnabrück manufacturer Schlicker. An alliance coat of arms Cornberg - Freytag (or Frydag) is located at the Auburg Mill. Carl Wilhelm von Cornberg (* 1739; † 1816) was married to Sophie Charlotte von Frydag (* 1745; † 1801) from the House of Daren, his son Georg Wilhelm (* 1772; † 1847) to Wilhelmine von Freytag (* 1789; † 1870). Carl Wilhelm was in turn a son of Carl von Cornberg (* 1708; † 1738) and Dorothea von Münchhausen (* 1717; † 1795), a sister of the famous "Lying Baron", who - after her husband died in a fatal accident by falling from a carriage on Christmas 1738 in Hattendorf - married Ludwig von Hammerstein (* 1702; † 1786) of Gesmold, Hornoldendorf and Apelern in a second marriage, thus also becoming the ancestress of the Hammerstein-Gesmold line. Dorothea's sister Anna von Münchhausen (* 1722; † 1789) was married to Georg Freiherr von Frydag of Daren; they were the parents of Sophie Charlotte von Cornberg.

In 1820, the Auburg bailiwick was re-integrated into the Diepholz office.

In 1937, the then collective municipality of Wagenfeld acquired the Auburg building and 26 acres of land. After 1945, refugee families lived there for eight years. Subsequently, the buildings served as an agricultural vocational school until 1967.

Today, only the manor house and the servant's quarters remain on the Auburg grounds. The historic Auburg building was restored in 1998/1999. Since then, the "Kulturkreis Auburg" (Auburg Cultural Circle) has offered a cultural program in its premises. The Auburg is also the namesake for the Wagenfeld-based companies "Auburg Quelle" (mineral water) and "Auburg Möbel" (Auburg Furniture).