Steinfurt Castle

The castle is a Münsterland moated castle, surrounded by moats into which the Werse river was incorporated. From the park, one reaches the large gate, flanked by gatehouses, via the moat bridge. A watermill stands in front of the bridge.

Between 1707 and 1709, the manor house was built by Lambert Friedrich Corfey on behalf of Johann Matthias Freiherr von der Reck, replacing the fortified house and castle from the Middle Ages, to secure the ford through the Werse.

The oldest part of the complex is the gatehouse in the right side wing, dating from 1583 to 1591. In 1829/1830, the two small gatehouses were built by Heinrich Johann Freyse, a student of Schinkel and city architect in Krefeld.

The first owners mentioned in 1177 are Lubbert von Steinfurt (von Stenvorde) as the feudal tenant of the main estate. Around 1200, the Lords of Rinkerode (von Rynkerothe) were enfeoffed. The noble Lords of Volmestein came into possession of the complex in 1324 through marriage. Through the marriage of the heiress Neyse (Agnes) von Volmestein in 1429, the property passed to the ancient noble family von der Recke zu Heeren from the Mark region. The estate, eligible for a seat in the regional assembly, was redeemed from Osnabrück feudal suzerainty in 1480 by Johann von der Recke and transferred to him as an allodial estate. In 1468, the Recke family split into a Steinfurt and a Heessen line. After converting to Protestantism in 1533, the Steinfurt line converted back to Catholicism in 1651, which created the prerequisite for rising to become one of the most important families of the landed gentry in the Prince-Bishopric of Münster, eligible for ecclesiastical offices. The heiress Anna Maria Theresia von der Reck brought Haus Steinfurt into the equally baronial family von Landsberg zu Erwitte in 1739 through her marriage to Franz Kaspar Ferdinand von Landsberg zu Erwitte. Subsequently, inheritance disputes followed with the von der Recke zu Stockhausen, who would have been entitled to the Volmarstein feudal chamber according to feudal law, and which were finally settled in 1810. The heir Engelbert von Landsberg-Erwitte died in 1810 without leaving children. As a result, his brother Clemens August's grandson inherited the house. He had married the heiress Anna Theresia von Velen in 1757. In October 2009, Baron Ignatz-Wessel Freiherr von Landsberg-Velen died and bequeathed the castle to his daughter Marie-Antoinette.

Members of the von Landsberg-Velen family still inhabit parts of the castle today. The outbuildings are rented for residential purposes.