Bilstein Castle (Lennestadt)

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Bilstein Castle
Burg Bilstein
Lennestadt-Bilstein
Lennestadt Burg Bilstein FFSW-0826.jpg
Aerial photograph of the castle
North Rhine-Westphalia location map 01.svg
Red pog.svg
Bilstein Castle
Germany adm location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Bilstein Castle
Coordinates 51°05′46″N8°01′10″E / 51.096250°N 8.0193056°E / 51.096250; 8.0193056 Coordinates: 51°05′46″N8°01′10″E / 51.096250°N 8.0193056°E / 51.096250; 8.0193056
Type hill castle, spur castle
Site information
Conditionpreserved
Site history
Built1202 to 1225
Garrison information
Occupantsnobility
Oldest illustration of Bilstein Castle, dating to 1561 Burg Bilstein aelteste Ansicht.jpg
Oldest illustration of Bilstein Castle, dating to 1561
Artist's impression of Bilstein Castle before the expansion of 1977 based on as-completed drawings Rekonstruktion Burg Bilstein.jpg
Artist's impression of Bilstein Castle before the expansion of 1977 based on as-completed drawings

Bilstein Castle (German : Burg Bilstein) is a hill castle in the Sauerland in Germany. It is located in the eponymous quarter of Bilstein in the town of Lennestadt. Since 1927 the building has been a youth hostel.

Contents

Origin of the name

The word Bilstein (and linguistically related terms such as Beilstein, Bielstein etc.) is not uncommon as a field and place name. According to Förstemann, [1] it means something like "a steeply towering or prominent rock". This description certainly applies to the promontory of Bilstein's castle hill. Thus, presumably the name was transferred from the hill, which is made of keratophyre (green volcanic rock), to the castle and adjacent settlement. Other explanations relate the name to a hunting place, an idol or the Old High German word billi for "sword". [2]

Castle site

Bilstein is a spur castle on an extension of the nearby hill of Rosenberg. This hill spur falls away steeply on three sides so that the castle's defences only needed to be oriented towards the hill to the northeast. The appearance of the castle is thus dominated by its two round towers, each with a diameter of about eight metres: the Chapel Tower in the northwest and the Hohnekamp Tower [3] in the southeast. The towers are connected by a tunnel under the castle courtyard, above ground is a 20th century archway.

The northwestern wing of the main ward and the central block in the southwest are historical structures. By contrast, the wing in the southeast was built in 1978 to expand the hostel. On the valley side of the central block is a portal terrace (Söller) on which a prominent lime tree is growing.

Today a brick bridge spans the moat between the inner and outer baileys. The moat has been partly filled-in and is about 15 metres wide. The outer bailey comprises three buildings, which are referred to as the gatehouse, timber-framed house and festival hall.

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Inner bailey

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Rötteln Castle

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Münzenberg Castle

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Altena Castle

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Sayn Castle

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Saaleck Castle Castle

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Thurant Castle

The ruins of the Thurant Castle stand on a wide slate hill spur above the villages of Alken on the Moselle in Germany. The castle is in the district of Mayen-Koblenz in Rhineland-Palatinate and belongs to the spur castle type. Vine gardens on the sunniest slope.

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Neideck Castle

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Wildenberg Castle (Kirchzell)

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Schlüsselstein Castle

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Holter Burg

The Holter Burg is the oldest castle site in the municipality of Bissendorf near Osnabrück in the German state of Lower Saxony. It is the ruin of a hill castle. It was the third hill castle in Osnabrück Land along with the Iburg and the Wittekindsburg near Rulle.

Virneburg Castle

Virneburg Castle is a ruined hill castle on a slate hill, 430 m above sea level (NHN), around which the Nitzbach stream flows. It stands above the village of Virneburg in the county of Mayen-Koblenz in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate.

Wernerseck Castle

Wernerseck Castle, also called the Kelterhausburg, is a late medieval hill castle in the municipality of Ochtendung in the county of Mayen-Koblenz in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It owes its name to its founder and lord of the castle, the Archbishop of Trier, Werner of Falkenstein (1388–1418). "Wernerseck" means "Werner's corner".

Löwenburg and Philippsburg

On a hill spur above the Eifel village of Monreal in Germany's Elzbach valley, at a height of 350 m above sea level (NHN), stand two neighbouring ruined hill castles: the Löwenburg, also called Monreal Castle, and the Philippsburg. The latter is also known locally as das Rech.

References

  1. E.Förstemann, Altdeutsches Namenbuch II, 1st Half, Bonn, 1913, Col. 451ff.
  2. Günther Becker, Hans Mieles: Der Name "Bilstein", aus Bilstein Land, Burg und Ort, pp. 206ff., Lennestadt, 1975
  3. Theo Hundt: Bilstein im Laufe der Jahrhunderte. In: Günther Becker, Hans Mieles: Bilstein Land, Burg und Ort, pp. 185ff., Lennestadt, 1975

Literature