Borculo Castle

Borculo Castle is a former castle which was situated next to the town of the same name, in the province of Gelderland in the Netherlands.

Borculo Castle was probably built during the 12th century by the Lords of Borculo, who were first mentioned in that century. The settlement of Borculo grew up next to the castle and was first mentioned in 1337.

During the 16th century Borculo was ruled by the Counts of Limburg-Bronckhorst. When the last count died in 1553, Christoph Bernhard von Galen, Prince-Bishop of Münster, contested ownership. A ruling by the Court of Gelderland in 1615 appointed ownership to the heirs of the last count. The ruling was imposed by troops from the town of Zutphen, who took over the castle after short combat in 1616. Afterwards the castle was repaired and enlarged around 1640.

After Borculo Castle was sold in 1727 it was never inhabited again and by 1743 was in a dilapidated and partly ruined state.

In 1777 the lordship of Borculo was bought by William V, Prince of Orange, which is why the present Dutch King still holds the title 'Lord of Borculo'. Shortly before, however, between 1760 and 1764, the medieval castle had been demolished and replaced by a smaller L-shaped building. William V turned that building into a stud farm. It kept functioning as a stud farm during the French era and afterwards, until 1852. The stud farm in its turn was finally demolished in 1870.

The site of the former castle is now partly built over with a library and cultural center and a private residence. The rest is grassland. The rectangular site is encompassed on 3 sides by a ditch, which is a remnant of the former moat. Depictions of the castle show it to have been a rectangular castle with round corner towers, one of which probably served as a keep.

At present nothing of Borculo Castle remains above ground. Apparently there are still some 16th century vaulted cellars, outer wall fragments and foundations of the keep underneath the private residence and the library.

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