Nuwendoorn Castle

Nuwendoorn Castle, locally known as Kasteel Nuwendoorn, lies in the fields north of the village of Krabbendam, in the province of North Holland in the Netherlands.

At the end of the 13th century, Floris V, Count of Holland (1256-1296) ordered the construction of a series of coercion castles to control the West Frisian population. Nuwendoorn was one of these castles, as was Radboud Castle. Construction on Nuwendoorn started in 1282. It was still in a phase of construction when it was destroyed by rebellious West Frisians in 1296, after the assassination of Floris.

The castle was completely rebuilt and in 1321 John I, Lord of Polanen, was appointed as steward. During the next decades several other stewards followed. At that time the castle was garrisoned by just 15 soldiers. After 1367 the castle disappeared from historical records. It is assumed that it was destroyed as the result of a flood around 1370. Afterwards it faded from memory and its location was lost.

In 1948 a local farmer discovered large stones in his fields while plowing. He showed them to a couple of amateur-archaeologists, who then came digging. They then found part of the foundations of the castle after which they were covered up again. An earnest archaeological excavation was carried out in 1960 which uncovered the complete foundations of Nuwendoorn Castle. When the excavation was done, the foundations were built up to show the site in the landscape.

In the beginning of the 21st century the castle site was very much overgrown and in a deteriorated state. In 2009/2010 the foundations were again built up, this time to a greater height, and a steel watch tower was placed on the site of the former keep.

At present Nuwendoorn Castle is freely accessible. A curious reconstruction in a nice Dutch landscape.

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