Jestädt Castle

Jestädt Castle, a three-winged castle complex from the 16th century, is located in the Werra-Meißner district in the municipality of Meinhard and dates back to a castle complex from the 13th century.

The oldest verifiable castle complex for securing a ford over the Werra near Jestädt dates from the middle of the 13th century. In 1561/62, Walrab von Boyneburg-Hohenstein, after having resigned from his service as a colonel in French service, began building a castle on the still existing foundations of the former valley castle.

His son Friedrich Hermann von Boyneburg-Hohenstein (1564–1631) had the south wing erected in a representative half-timbered structure in 1612. During the Thirty Years' War, the castle was plundered and devastated; in 1637 it was renovated and thereafter served the Boyneburgs as a noble residence.

After the Jestädt line of the Boyneburg-Hohensteins died out in 1792, the castle and the associated territories fell to the Lords of Eschwege in 1795. This possession was confirmed in 1802 by a feudal letter from George III. The north wing probably dates from the mid-18th century. Its half-timbered structure is plastered. Around 1804, the east wing, the prison tower and the gate were demolished, and the north wing was extended. The castle was last rebuilt in the Neo-Baroque style in 1906. The mill bordering the castle to the south was demolished in the 1960s.

After the Second World War, the Eschweges accommodated refugees and relatives in their castle. In the 1970s and 1980s, the castle was temporarily uninhabited.