Hehlen Castle

In the 9th century, Hehlen was first mentioned in a document as Heli. In the 12th century, it was referred to as Helen.

When the Homburg enfeoffed lords died out in 1409, and then in 1558 the ducal-Brunswick enfeoffed lords in the form of the Lords of Frenke also died out, the fief was transferred to the still resident, older "white" branch of the Schulenburgs. Among the first lords from this branch on the Weser was Fritz von der Schulenburg. He gained wealth and prestige as an imperial mercenary leader in the service of Duke Heinrich the Younger of Braunschweig-Lüneburg. His wife Ilse von Saldern, who had lived separately from him since 1574, had the moated castle Hehlen, flanked by towers, built between 1579 and 1584. With the construction of the castle began the emergence of a series of large noble castles of the Weser Renaissance, the most magnificent of which are Hämelschenburg, Schloss Bevern, and Schloss Schwöbber.

Schloss Hehlen was purely a representative building with no military purpose. It is a four-wing complex with angled stair towers in the courtyard and a drawbridge over the water-filled moat. In the courtyard (private, no viewing) a double portrait of the building couple and their alliance coat of arms are mounted above two round-arch portals, and an epitaph of the builder is located in the east of the courtyard.

Between 1886 and 1888, alterations were made to the interior. The moated castle Hehlen remained in the possession of the (since 1728) Imperial Counts von der Schulenburg until 1956, when Count Johann-Heinrich sold it to the Hannoversche Siedlungsgesellschaft. The furnishings went to the open antique market, some of the paintings to the Landesmuseum Hannover, and the book collection to the Herzog August Bibliothek Wolfenbüttel. In 1958, the castle was acquired by Walter Koch (1911-1998), the owner of Machwitz Kaffee, whose family still owns it. A café is operated in one of the outbuildings.