Welda Castle

Welda Castle is an 18th-century Baroque castle in the Welda district of Warburg.

The castle was built from 1734 to 1737 by architect Justus Wehmer. The builder was Hermann Adolph von Haxthausen, the Grand Marshal of the Prince-Bishopric of Paderborn. The building resembles Vinsebeck Castle; both are Baroque castles with an H-shaped floor plan. The Kassel Baroque sculptor Johann Georg Kötschau was commissioned as the artist to create the figures. The castle stands on wooden piles and is surrounded by a moat. From 1756 to 1763, an orangery and the farm buildings around the castle were built in Welda. The castle park covers an area of about one hectare and is a historic Baroque and landscape garden. The garden artist Carl Hatzel was responsible for the garden design. From the southern access road, there is a linden avenue with a rondel in front of the castle entrance.

After the extinction of the male line of the noble Haxthausen family, the castle was inhabited by Franz Georg von Brackel of the Barons of Brackel family through marriage until 1932. Afterwards, the Association for Catholic Workers' Colonies Westphalia acquired the buildings. In 1938, Reinhard Henschel, a descendant of Carl Anton Henschel and co-owner of the mechanical engineering company Henschel & Sohn, became the owner of the castle. From 1950, the castle was inhabited and acquired by the estate tenant, who operated a nursery there. In 1990 and 1996, the castle changed hands again. The current owner has extensively renovated the buildings.

Today, the castle hosts concerts, cultural events, press conferences, and civil weddings (as an external office of the Warburg registry office). The property is privately owned, and the castle grounds are not accessible to the public.

Welda Castle is the birthplace of the writer Ferdinande von Brackel (1835-1905) and today bears the postal address Ferdinande-Von-Brackel-Straße 12.