Loersfeld Castle

Loersfeld Castle is located in Kerpen, North Rhine-Westphalia. The castle was built in the 15th century and has been owned by the Barons von Fürstenberg since 1819.

As early as 1262, the property of the Lords of Loersfeld, situated between today's nature reserves Loersfelder Busch and Parrig, was mentioned in a document. At the time of its first mention, the Loersfelder Hof belonged to the knight Eberhard von Belle and his wife Hildegunde, who sold 30 Morgen of arable land near their farm in lodervelt sita to Bottenbroich Monastery. Since the purchase agreement was concluded in Kerpen and Johann von Kerpen co-sealed as the landlord, Loersfeld apparently belonged to the Kerpen lordship at that time. Since then, Loersfeld was part of the County of Kerpen and Lommersum until the French era. In the further course of the 14th century, Loersfeld first came into the possession of the Merode family, then through marriage into the possession of the von Horn family, who subsequently adopted the suffix "called von Loersfeld". In 1435, Heinrich Spies von Büllesheim zu Bodendorf became the owner of the farm. Loersfeld remained in the possession of this family, who belonged to the ancient nobility of the Duchy of Jülich, for the following 140 years, during which the present manor house was built, until it passed to the von Eynatten family for 86 years in 1559. In 1665, the castle was sold to Dietrich von Leers. Around 1770, the Cologne merchant Caspar Wilhelm von Hamm acquired it, from whom it passed to his daughter Anna Catharina's husband Georg Albert Reinecker after her death in 1795. The present outer bailey was built in 1771 according to the anchor pins and replaced a previous building. Reinecker finally sold Loersfeld with all buildings and associated lands on June 5, 1819, to the Westphalian hereditary marshal Friedrich Leopold Reichsfreiherr von Fürstenberg zu Herdringen. His sixth son, Franz Adolph Josef, born on June 28, 1805, was the first Fürstenberg to make Loersfeld his residence. In addition to extensive construction measures in 1840 and 1865, he also had the park expanded in the English landscape style to a total size of ten hectares. When he died on February 14, 1880, as Royal Chamberlain and Castle Captain of Benrath Castle, his property fell to his nephew Friedrich Leopold II von Fürstenberg (Borbeck-Hugenpoet line). After his death, his son Clemens, born at Borbeck Castle, inherited the Loersfeld property in 1901 and moved his residence to Loersfeld with his wife Therese, née Countess von Korff gen. Schmising. Their only son Clemens August renounced his inheritance in 1938, so that Loersfeld fell to the main Fürstenberg-Hugenpoet line in 1941. The current owner is Maximilian Freiherr von Fürstenberg-Hugenpoet.

Loersfeld Castle is situated amidst a very well-maintained, ten-hectare English landscape park and is one of the most beautiful castle complexes in Germany. The current tenant operates a restaurant in the elegant manor house.