Born Castle

Born Castle, locally known as Kasteel Born, lies in the town of Born, in the province of Limburg in the Netherlands.

The first Born Castle is first mentioned in 1154. How it looked is not known. It was then the seat of the Van Born family. They sold it in 1321 to the Van Valkenburg family. In 1400 the castle and its land were sold to Willem III, Duke of Gulik and Guelders. A thorough inventory was made up of everything inside the castle. In 1538 this castle is dismantled. Its stones were used to strengthen the city walls of Sittard. What remained was destroyed in 1542 by the troops of René van Châlon, Prince of Orange.

In 1662 the remains of the Born Castle are bought by Jan Arnoldt de Leerodt. He ordered the building of the present Born Castle, which was finished in 1666. In 1813 the castle was sold to a merchant from Maastricht; Mathieu de Gillissen. He became the first owner who didn't belong to the nobility. Later on it became the property of the Van Roosteren family.

From 1906 till 1930 several restorations were carried out. In 1930, however, the castle was destroyed by a large fire and was never rebuilt. In 1937 some demolition works were carried out to make the ruin safer.

Its owners sold the remains of Born Castle to the municipality of Born in 1955.

The castle underwent consolidation works in the last decade. The buildings on the bailey are now used as the town hall. The ruin of Born Castle is now wedged between the bailey on one side and a small zoo on the other.

You can view the castle from the zoo (as I did) and I think that it is also possible to visit it through the town hall. But when and how I don't know.

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