Strünkede Castle

The Lords of Strünkede were first mentioned in a document in 1142, when a Wessel von Strünkede, a vassal of the Counts of Kleve, appeared as a witness in a dispute with the Essen Abbey. Bernd von Strünkede held an important court office as a Kleve seneschal in 1209.

The first documented mention of the former Strünkede Castle as "castro nostro Strunkede" dates back to 1243. It appears again in 1263, when the knight Gerlach von Strünkede made peace with his liege lord Count Dietrich VI of Kleve after a feud and ceded his castle to him for 100 Mark.

In 1316, Bovo and Bernd von Strünkede were enfeoffed with the Burgraviate of Strünkede. From this, the Lordship of Strünkede developed in later years, encompassing the farming communities of Herne and Baukau.

Due to the feudal ties of its owners to Kleve and its proximity to Kleve's adversary, the Archbishopric of Cologne, Strünkede Castle was involved in numerous feuds between the 14th and 16th centuries and was frequently besieged by Cologne's followers. For example, in 1317, when Count Engelbert II of the Mark had lost his fiefs and Emperor Louis IV had subsequently granted them to the Counts of Kleve. The Märker succeeded in taking and destroying the castle. Although the complex was subsequently rebuilt by the Strünkedes, it was besieged and conquered once more by Engelbert II of the Mark only three years later.

However, Strünkede Castle was able to withstand a subsequent siege by Walram von Jülich in 1336, as well as a siege in 1352 by men of the Kleve Count Johann von Kleve, who attacked his vassal Heinrich von Strünkede, who was striving for independence.

In 1397, Bernd von Strünkede lost his castle complex, which he had made available to Duke Wilhelm II of Berg as an open house in a feud with Kleve, as the Bergers were defeated in the decisive battle at Kleverhamm. Only in 1399 did he receive it back as a fief from Adolf II of Kleve.

In the 15th century, the two rebellious brothers Goddert and Johann von Strünkede made a name for themselves. Due to a dispute with Cappenberg Monastery and the King, the later Emperor Sigismund even imposed the imperial ban on Goddert, which led to the castle being besieged and captured by Duke Adolf IV of Kleve in 1418.

Strünkede then remained under Kleve administration for the time being, until in 1426 all adult representatives of the von Strünkede family swore allegiance to Kleve, and the complex was subsequently returned as a fief to the noble family.

In 1487, the Kleve Duke Johann II had the Strünkede complex besieged again. This time it was against Reinhard von Strünkede (also Reynar), who had received half of the lordship as a fief in 1482, but had then violently appropriated the other half. After the Duke succeeded in his siege, he sentenced Reinhard to "eternal imprisonment" at Strünkede due to insanity. His wife Sofia, née Countess von Limburg-Styrum, had already separated from her husband. Her sons Jobst and Reinhard succeeded their father as castle owners.

That Jobst went down in history as "the Madman", although historians confirm that his actions did not differ from those of other contemporaries. His grandson of the same name, however, was given the epithet "the Scholar". From 1591, he began to convert the complex, which had been severely damaged by numerous military conflicts, into a representative castle. The tomb for Jobst the Scholar and his wife Henrika von Hatzfeld from the old Herne Dionysius Church is now in the castle.

Jobst's eldest son Conrad was elevated to the status of Imperial Baron in 1636. His third son Gottfried (Goddert) from his marriage to Janna von Lützenrod succeeded his father as owner of Strünkede Castle. Under his aegis, the castle renovation begun by his grandfather was completed in 1644.

When Johann Conrad Freiherr von Strünkede died in 1742 without male heirs, his cousin Ludwig from the House of Dorneburg inherited the property. When the male line of Strünkede zu Dorneburg also died out in 1777, the property passed to Sigismund Carl von Strünkede zu Krudenburg. At that time, however, Strünkede was completely indebted, which led to bankruptcy. However, the castle remained in family ownership. Sigismund's sister, Sophia Charlotte, was enfeoffed with the Lordship of Strünkede in 1786. She had married Baron Adolf Karl von Palandt-Osterveen from Ommen in the Dutch Overijssel in 1767, and thus the House of Strünkede passed to this family.

The heiress Adolfine Caroline von Palandt brought the complex through marriage in 1810 to Friedrich von Forell, who came from the Lower Rhine. His descendants sold Strünkede Castle to Harpener Bergbau AG in 1900. Before that, the buildings had to serve numerous masters within a short time. During the First World War, they served as a military hospital, and in the 1920s, the Schutzpolizei (protection police) was housed there. From January 1935 to 1937, the Hitler Youth found accommodation there, before parts of the castle were leased long-term by the city of Herne for the Emschertal Museum. The opening took place on September 15, 1938, interrupted by shorter closing periods, to close on August 26, 1944. After the liberation and stationing of an occupation force until January 1946, the castle was converted into a children's convalescent home by the British Salvation Army, which cared for 1600 children from the Emscher region physically and mentally from February 24, 1946, to March 31, 1950. Only in 1948 was the house purchased by the city of Herne and the Emschertal Museum reopened in some of its rooms.

The present main castle consists of remnants of a castellan-like enclosed complex, which formerly stood in the middle of an oval castle pond. It probably comprised only a fortified residential tower and a gatehouse. A bailey was located to its south on its own, second island. The complex, whose core castle area occupied about 45 meters by 45 meters, was protected by a complex moat system and a double rampart. However, excavations in the 1950s proved the existence of two predecessor buildings west and southwest of the current location. These were an earthwork castle from the 10th century and a motte-and-bailey castle from the 11th/12th century.

The origins of the present castle building lie in a preserved square pavilion tower from around 1500 (other sources mention the 14th century). Its three storeys rise above a base area measuring 13.5 meters by 13.5 meters. Loopholes in its brick vaulted cellar testify to its former defensiveness. In the mid-16th century, an east wing measuring 28 meters by 10 meters was added to the north of the tower in the Renaissance style. This was adjoined at right angles by a now no longer preserved, cellared north wing.

The youngest part of the present castle is the south wing, built in two construction phases, with an early Baroque gate passage from the 17th century. The round-arched portal is crowned by the coat of arms of the von Strünkede family and announces in an inscription the completion of the conversion and expansion work under Gottfried von Strünkede in 1664. Investigations from 2009 have shown that the complete wooden construction of the roof from the castle's construction period – the wood was felled in 1663 – is originally preserved.

The entire complex was probably completed by a battlement on the west side.

All new wing constructions were built on oak pile foundations and from natural quarry stone. The latter is only visible at the base of the buildings, as the outer walls were plastered. In the course of the construction work in the 16th and 17th centuries, the castle pond was enlarged to a size of 200 meters x 220 meters, and the builder commissioned the creation of a Baroque garden based on French models to the west of the manor house. In addition, a utility garden with a dovecote was created. However, the garden complexes have completely disappeared today, and only the main and an outer moat of the extensive moat system still exist.

East of the castle, between the inner and outer moats, stood a castle mill, documented since 1316, which had to cease operation in 1850. Mining fields of a nearby colliery drained water from the moats and the castle pond; the Strünkede stream that fed them was no longer usable.

After Harpener Bergbau AG acquired the castle area in 1900, they had it converted into a restaurant. These measures are largely responsible for the fact that hardly any original building fabric remains inside today. An exception is a partially preserved 17th-century fireplace. A former, square stair tower in the southeast corner of the inner courtyard also no longer exists.

Extensive restoration work was carried out on the complex between 1975 and 1980. Among other things, the outer walls received new plaster and – based on a color lithograph from 1860/70 and an analysis of old plaster remnants – a yellow paint finish.

In 2008, the entire castle park was redesigned. The residential and garage building opposite Villa Forell from the 1920s was demolished, and the old line of sight – from the country road from Bochum to Recklinghausen (today: Bahnhofstraße) – was restored. From October 2009 to June 2010, a fundamental renovation of the castle building took place. At the same time, extensive architectural-historical research was carried out, and the permanent exhibition of the Emschertal Museum was comprehensively renewed. Its reopening on the theme "The House, its History, its People" took place on June 13, 2010. Further renovations will follow until mid-2011.

Strünkede Castle Chapel is Herne's oldest building. It dates back to the lord of the castle, Bernd von Strünkede, who had it built in brick in the Gothic style on the bailey grounds by 1272.

Originally intended only for the needs of the castle residents, it was converted into a parish church with the right of public worship in 1395, with the blessing of the Archbishop of Cologne Friedrich III von Saarwerden, because, as it was said, the path to the Herne Dionysius Church "would not be without danger to life in those warlike times." The chapel also served as a burial place for some Strünkede lords. The burial sites of "Mad Jobst" († 1529) and his father Reinhard († 1535) are documented.

As patron of the Dionysius Church and the associated parish, the Strünkede lord of the castle Goddert († 1584) introduced the Reformation, whereby the castle chapel also became an evangelical, initially Lutheran, house of worship.

In 1686, the next change of denomination took place: the chapel was now converted into a Calvinist church by the widow of Gottfried von Strünkede and received its own preacher. In the following centuries, it served the Reformed community of Herne as a parish church.

At the end of the 18th century, decay began. The bell tower was removed in 1802. When the union between Lutherans and Calvinists was proclaimed in Herne, which now belonged to Prussia, in 1845, it lost its character as a house of worship and was used by the respective owners of the castle as a barn, stable, and dog kennel, among other things, until World War II. During this time, many old elements were irretrievably lost. For example, the Mannerist painting of the late 16th century, uncovered in 1950, could only be saved in a few parts.

In 1948, the chapel, along with the castle, became the property of the city of Herne. After a thorough restoration, during which the Gothic vaults destroyed by incendiary bombs were also restored and new window glazing was installed, it still serves for services of smaller religious communities, in addition to concerts, weddings, and baptisms.

The brick building with the polygonal 3/8 choir shows the oldest traces on its southern side with the ashlar surrounds, which might still date from the original construction of 1272. The remaining part was probably built in the 14th/15th century after the destructions of Strünkede. The current roof turret from the post-war period replaces a small Baroque dome. The two-bay hall has a cross-rib vault, whose keystone shows the coats of arms of the von Strünkede family and their liege lords, the Dukes of Kleve. Single-lancet pointed arch windows, which are double-lancet in the choir, provide lighting for the small sacred building. The window reveals in the choir show simplified, late Gothic tendril painting. On the walls are old Herne tombstones, including that of Margaretha von Asbeck, the wife of "Mad Jobst," who died in 1587.

The current altarpiece was the upper part of the main altar of the demolished Dionysius Church, created in 1700. Consecration crosses are embedded in several places inside the building. A memorial tablet from 1682, presumably by Gottfried von Strünkede, hangs on the west wall above the door.

In today's triangle between Strünkede Stadium, Westring, and Forellstraße lies the monument to the von Forell family. The monument has the shape of an obelisk, which was crowned by an urn until the 1960s. It originally stood about 20 meters further south within the current grandstand embankment of the stadium. There lay the family burial site of the von Forell family, which had been used only for the residents of Strünkede House since 1804. The last Baroness von Strünkede zu Krudenburg was also buried there. Today, after a thorough restoration, the monument is once again enclosed by a fence.