Blankenhagen Castle
Encyclopedia
Lowland castle
The term lowland castle or plains castle describes a type of castle based that is situated on a lowland, plain or valley floor, as opposed to one built on higher ground such as a hill spur...
(Niederungsburg), whose ruins are located by the River Aller
River Aller
The River Aller is a small river on Exmoor in Somerset, England.It rises as several small streams around Tivington and Huntscott and flows through the Holnicote Estate past Holnicote and through Allerford, where it passes under a packhorse bridge of medieval origin. It then joins the River Horner,...
near Grethem
Grethem
Grethem is a municipality in the district of Heidekreis, in Lower Saxony, Germany....
in Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony is a German state situated in north-western Germany and is second in area and fourth in population among the sixteen states of Germany...
, Germany. The motte-and-bailey
Motte-and-bailey
A motte-and-bailey is a form of castle, with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised earthwork called a motte, accompanied by an enclosed courtyard, or bailey, surrounded by a protective ditch and palisade...
castle is believed to have been built around 1200. It is supposed that there used to be fortified buildings on the two low mounds or mottes, and that a bailey
Motte-and-bailey
A motte-and-bailey is a form of castle, with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised earthwork called a motte, accompanied by an enclosed courtyard, or bailey, surrounded by a protective ditch and palisade...
was constructed on an outer island-like area.
Location
The castle stood in the meadowMeadow
A meadow is a field vegetated primarily by grass and other non-woody plants . The term is from Old English mædwe. In agriculture a meadow is grassland which is not grazed by domestic livestock but rather allowed to grow unchecked in order to make hay...
landscape of the Aller valley about half a kilometre northeast of Grethem
Grethem
Grethem is a municipality in the district of Heidekreis, in Lower Saxony, Germany....
. It lies today between the Old Leine (200 m west) and Aller (400 m east) rivers. It is accessible via a track that leads to the ferry crossing over the Aller to Eickeloh
Eickeloh
Eickeloh is a municipality in the Heidekreis district, in Lower Saxony, Germany....
.
Description
Of the two preserved castle mounds, which are devoid of any stone ruins, the higher one has a diameter today of about 25 m. It is roughly 4.5 m high and covered by bushes. The mound is surrounded by a hollow which may have been the old, inner moat. About 40 m further northeast is another artificially built mound. It is triangular in shape and is about 30 m long. It has a height of 3 m and is also covered in bushes.Both mounds were surrounded by a circular rampart
Circular rampart
A circular rampart is an embankment built in the shape of a circle that was used as part of the defences for a military fortification, hill fort or refuge, or was built for religious purposes or as a place of gathering....
, which has only partly survived. It has a present-day height of around 1.3 m and a width of 13 m. In front is a hollow that was probably the outer moat or ditch. In the immediate vicinity of the castle it has been established that there was an island-like elevation, on which a bailey could have been located.
The castle site appears in the Royal Hanoverian Map Series (Kurhannoversche Landesaufnahme) of 1779. It is still present in Prussian mapping (Preußische Neuaufnahme) around 1900 shown as a semi-circular rampart.
Archaeological Research
The site was added to the list of cultural monuments in 2002 and in 2004 a more detailed inspection was carried out. This included a magnetic surveyMagnetometer
A magnetometer is a measuring instrument used to measure the strength or direction of a magnetic field either produced in the laboratory or existing in nature...
, aerial photography
Aerial photography
Aerial photography is the taking of photographs of the ground from an elevated position. The term usually refers to images in which the camera is not supported by a ground-based structure. Cameras may be hand held or mounted, and photographs may be taken by a photographer, triggered remotely or...
and the production of a digital relief model. In 2005 security measures were taken on the main motte, which had suffered from damage as a result of cattle grazing.
History
The castle is not mentioned in the records. It is thought to have been founded by the lords of Blankena (BlankenhagenBlankenhagen
Blankenhagen is a municipality in the Rostock district, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany....
), who were closely related to those of Hodenberg
Hodenberg
Hodenberg is the name of an old Lower Saxon noble family. - History :Since early times the von Hodenberg lords were protectors of the monastery at Bücken founded by Archbishop Rembert von Bremen. Their name was probably derived from this hereditary office, because in Low German the word Hode...
. The lords of Blankenhagen were mentioned in the 13th century in connexion with Hodenhagen Castle
Hodenhagen Castle
Hodenhagen Castle is the site of a former lowland castle built in the 13th century in the vicinity of Hodenhagen in the German state of Lower Saxony...
. Their line seems to have soon died out however.
Similar fortifications in the local area
Within the neighbourhood, in the valley of the AllerAller
The Aller is a river, long, in the states of Saxony-Anhalt and Lower Saxony in Germany. It is a right-hand, and hence eastern, tributary of the River Weser and is also its largest tributary. Its last form the Lower Aller federal waterway...
, there is a number of other medieval castles, some of similar design. These fortifications include those in Bierde
Bierde
Bierde is a village in the municipality of Böhme, Lower Saxony, that is part of Heidekreis district in the German state of Lower Saxony.- Bierder Burg :...
, Ahlden (Bunkenburg
Bunkenburg
Bunkenburg was a castle built during the 13th and 14th centuries in the shape of a circular fort located on the banks of the River Aller opposite Ahlden in north Germany. Only a section of the rampart, roughly 60 metres long and 3 metres high, exists today...
), Essel
Essel
Essel is a municipality in the Heidekreis district, in Lower Saxony, Germany. Most of the village is located on the southern bank of the river Aller. The A 7 motorway runs through the village.-Subdivisions:The municipality of Essel comprises 4 subdivisions:...
(Uhlenburg
Uhlenburg
Uhlenburg is the site of a lowland castle that was built in the 14th century close to the River Aller near Essel in the German state of Lower Saxony...
) (Blankenburg Castle
Blankenburg Castle
Blankenburg Castle was a small castle in the village of Engehausen in the municipality of Essel in the German state of Lower Saxony. It dates roughly to the 13th century. All that remains are parts of the surrounding rampart...
), Hodenhagen
Hodenhagen
Hodenhagen is a municipality in the district of Heidekreis, in Lower Saxony, Germany. The town was once the site of Hudemühlen Castle, which is now completely destroyed. The castle was famous as the home of the kobold Hinzelmann. The site of another medieval castle, Hodenhagen Castle on the River...
(Hodenhagen Castle
Hodenhagen Castle
Hodenhagen Castle is the site of a former lowland castle built in the 13th century in the vicinity of Hodenhagen in the German state of Lower Saxony...
) and Rethem.
Blankenhagen belongs to the group of former castles, that were researched between 2003-2005 by the Burgenlandschaft Aller-Leine-Tal (B.A.L.T.) project. The project was supported by the European aid programme LEADER+, because it had located castle sites in the Aller-Leine Valley
Aller-Leine Valley
The Aller-Leine Valley is the name of a region north of Hanover in Germany, that has been created for the purpose of regional marketing and inter-community cooperation...
area.
Literature
- Burgen im Fluss, Herausgeber: Landkreis Soltau-Fallingbostel, Bad Fallingbostel, 2005, ISBN 3-00-017281-5