Heidhorn Manor

The grounds of Haus Heidhorn today present themselves as a park of about three hectares, characterized by an arboretum in the north and meadows with a pond in the south. From the original manor house in the north, parts of the late medieval moats, a barn, a coach house, a granary whose half-timbering dates from 1667, and on the eastern side of Federal Highway 54, two clearly visible baroque gate pillars are preserved. They mark the access to the current forest area of the Hohe Ward. Another pair stands directly opposite on the west side of the federal highway, but they are currently completely covered in ivy. Another of these seemingly disconnected sandstone pillars is also located on the federal highway a few meters southeast of the gatehouse. The barn and coach house date from the second half of the 19th century. The gatehouse was only built in 1904 over the moat directly on the federal highway, which was partly filled in for this purpose. It is the "youngest" of the historical buildings of the ensemble. Its natural stones are said to originate at least in part from the city fortifications of Münster. In the south of the complex, a chapel, the sisters' house with a cloister, a small swimming pool, and the retirement home were newly built in the 1960s and 1970s. In the crypt of the chapel, built as an oval church, the founding couple – whose tombstone stands in the neighboring arboretum – as well as the private tutor and later Eberswalde forest zoologist Bernard Altum are buried.

The first documented references to Haus Heidhorn date back to 1235, when the knight Themo de Berle sold a piece of forest belonging to the estate to the St. Aegidii monastery. A short time later, Haus Heidhorn finally passed entirely into the possession of this monastery. Until 1795, there is at least evidence of manorial dues from St. Aegidii. In the following years, the inhabitants of Haus Heidhorn apparently repeatedly suffered from marauding mercenaries of Spanish, Dutch, and also Prussian troops. In 1812, after being occupied by Napoleonic troops, the estate became French.

In 1844, the Münster merchant Josef Hötte bought the Haus Heidhorn estate and later transferred it to his nephew Josef Hötte jun., son of the wealthy furrier Franz Hötte. Josef Hötte jun. managed Haus Heidhorn relatively selflessly; rather, he established a recreation and retirement home for nuns. Furthermore, in the following decades, he gradually expanded the property not only in Hiltrup but also in the parishes of Rinkerode and Amelsbüren. By 1898, Haus Heidhorn already included 294 hectares of forest, heath, and arable land. After Josef Hötte jun. died without heirs in 1919, the Heidhorn Foundation took over the administration of the estate, continuing its operation as a "recreation home for the Congregation of the Sisters of Divine Providence."

Haus Heidhorn now houses, among other things, a retirement home, which has primarily accommodated non-religious individuals since the 1970s. The administration is held by the Catholic Brotherhood of the Alexians. In 2010, a new building east of the sisters' house towards the federal highway was occupied, which initially serves as a replacement for the existing retirement home from the 1960s.

Since spring 2008, the NABU Nature Conservation Station Münsterland has been located in the former sisters' house of Haus Heidhorn. In the course of its development work, the sisters' former utility garden was reactivated for nature and environmental education work. This garden is now also used for horticultural therapy with people suffering from dementia, and students from Hiltrup open all-day schools are also active here.