Oberwerries Castle

The brick masonry complex consists of a two-winged manor house, with a stable building in front of it to the east. North of the manor house is a gatehouse, which is adjoined to the north by a small baroque garden.

Manor House

The manor house consists of a main building with two stories and a two-story wing adjoining it to the south, which is, however, narrower and somewhat lower than the main building. A square pavilion tower is set to the east of the south wing.

The three structures of the manor house have string courses and window surrounds made of Baumberg sandstone as a common architectural element. Their roof forms, however, are partly different. While the main house and the pavilion tower have a mansard roof, the south wing is topped by a broken steep roof.

Both the main house and the southern wing of the manor house have separate entrances, both of which are accessible via a common outdoor staircase.

Gatehouse

The gatehouse is the oldest part of the complex, as evidenced by its iron wall anchors with the year 1667. Inside the building is a fireplace from 1672. However, due to a bricked-up, but still visible, Gothic pointed arch window, which was part of the former castle chapel, building historians assume that the gatehouse is older and was only renovated and rebuilt in 1667.

Stable Building

East of the manor house stands the so-called stable building, which is the youngest building of the castle. It is an elongated, rectangular structure with window frames made of Baumberg sandstone, to whose east side an former dog kennel adjoins.

The feudal lordship over the curtis in Werries, to which the houses Unter- (or Nieder-) and Oberwerries on both sides of the Lippe can be traced back, lay with the Limburg branch of the House of Berg-Altena. As early as 1284, a castle is mentioned as a predecessor building of the current castle in the feudal register of the Counts of Limburg-Styrum. In that year, Dietrich von Limburg enfeoffed Engelbert von Herbern with the feudal estates in Werries abandoned by the sons of Wessel, called Kolve. The fortified complex served to secure the border of Münsterland.

Around 1400, Conrad von Herbern is found as the holder of the fief. After the death of Hermann, the last male namesake of the von Herbern family, his mother sold Oberwerries, located north of the Lippe, in 1464 to Gerd von Beverförde from the Dutch province of Overijssel. South of the Lippe, a second property already existed at that time, which was located downstream and was therefore called Unter- or Niederwerries. The family traceable to Niederwerries since the 15th century is already attested a hundred years earlier in this area: in 1322, Johann von Neheim made an agreement with Engelbert von Herbern regarding the mill in Werries. The Neheims remained lords of the estate until the first half of the 17th century, but then, due to serious financial difficulties, their possessions went bankrupt.

After the Neheim house in Hamm had already passed to the von Beverförde family at Oberwerries in 1616 through a civilian intermediary, they also acquired the castle seat of Unter- or Niederwerries in 1677, thus reuniting both houses in one hand. The then lord of the manor at Oberwerries had begun the new construction of the castle complex in 1667, which his widow Ida von Plettenberg, a sister of the Prince-Bishop of Münster Friedrich Christian von Plettenberg, had completed in 1684/92. The Capuchin monk Ambrosius von Oelde is presumed to be the architect of the new manor house, which was built on the foundations of the old castle, due to typical architectural elements, according to whose designs Ahaus Castle and the Capuchin monastery Werne were also built.

The completion of the building ensemble took place in 1692 under Baroness Ida von Beverförde-Werries, née von Plettenberg. However, it is also possible that the construction work was only completed in 1714, as this year is found on the railing of the outdoor staircase at the manor house.

Ida's grandson, the Prussian chamberlain Friedrich Christian von Beverförde, known as "the mad Werries," had the present stable building erected on the grounds of the outer bailey between 1730 and 1735 according to plans by Johann Conrad Schlaun. The remains of the demolished Niederwerries provided the building material. With "the mad Werries," the last member of the von Beverförde family died in 1768. Oberwerries Castle passed by inheritance to the noble family Elverfeldt – Friedrich Christian had adopted the son of a cousin, Friedrich Clemens von Elverfeldt zu Dahlhausen und Steinhausen, and made him his heir. His descendants, the von Elverfeldt called von Beverfoerde zu Werries at Loburg Castle in Ostbevern, remained owners of the castle, which remained uninhabited for the next 160 years and thus fell into disrepair.

In 1942, Baron Carl Maximilian Joseph von Elverfeldt called von Beverfoerde zu Werries sold it to the Sachsen colliery in Heessen, which resold it to the city of Hamm in the same year. From 1952, the city had structural safety measures carried out and the buildings restored in stages until 1975. The manor house was converted into a rural vocational school, while the stable building has housed the current sports and qualification center of the Westphalian Gymnastics Federation since 1956. The last renovation and refurbishment measures in 1975 primarily served to install a new staircase and restore the castle cellar.

Today, Oberwerries Castle serves as an educational and meeting center and as a venue for representative receptions of the city of Hamm. For example, the conference that led to the founding of the Association of German Music Schools took place there from September 5 to 7, 1952. In the pavilion tower, it is also possible to get married civilly.

Traditionally part of the parish of Heessen, Oberwerries was incorporated into Dolberg in 1936; only the territorial reform of 1975 returned it to its old municipal association, which had since merged into Hamm.