Gödersheim Castle

The two-part complex formerly consisted of a castle house and a three-winged outer bailey, whose horseshoe shape was open towards the castle house. Both parts of the castle were surrounded by moats. Only remnants of the curtain wall and the heavily altered gatehouse remain of the outer bailey complex. The gatehouse has stepped gables and a round-arched gate passage. The other farm buildings such as stables and barns have now been completely demolished.

The two-story castle house with corner quoins was built of quarry stone and has a rectangular floor plan. Formerly it was topped by a half-hipped roof, but today it is only preserved as a ruin. It strongly resembled the Hallenburg Disternich, built around the same time. On the second floor, the beginnings of round bartizans can be seen at two building corners. The long sides are divided into four axes by mullioned windows with sandstone frames. There are two window openings on each of the narrow gable sides. A small oriel with a three-part window and a lean-to roof had already partially collapsed at the beginning of the 20th century. Towards the outer bailey, the building was protected by a Zwinger (outer ward) with a low quarry stone wall and some loopholes. Access to the Zwinger was provided by a Renaissance-era gate, which showed the alliance coat of arms of the families von Merode and Holtrop as well as the year 1708 in its round-arched gable. A narrow, brick arched bridge connected the outer bailey to the residential building and led to a drawbridge. However, neither the Renaissance gate nor the bridge are preserved today.

On the castle grounds, next to the manor house ruin, there are modern buildings from the 1950s, which served as an outstation of the Rheinische Landeskrankenhaus from 1959 until the beginning of the 21st century.

The lowland castle was first mentioned in 1343 and was at that time in the possession of the von Gödersheim family. In 1373, a Johann von Vlatten appeared as its owner. Through marriage, the castle came into the possession of the Lords of Lülsdorf in 1474. Members of this family built the moated castle, which is preserved as a ruin today, around 1500. In 1630, the von Rohe genannt Obsinnich family acquired the complex from the Lülsdorfs, before it came to Gotthard von Merode-Houffalize by marriage no later than 1642. His son Johann Wilhelm and his wife Anna Maria von Holtorp probably had the Zwinger gate redesigned, as evidenced by their joint coat of arms and the year 1708 in the gable field of the gate until about the end of the 19th century.

When the family line died out with the death of Regine Petronella von Merode in 1826, Gödersheim Castle – as well as Jüngersdorf Castle – came by inheritance to the family of the Düsseldorf rent master Graef, whose heirs sold the property in several parts. The castle was acquired by the Meiss family from Wollersheim. Some of its members inhabited the castle house until 1865, then the complex gradually fell into disrepair and became a ruin.