Burcht van Voorne

The Burcht of Voorne is a ruinous motte-and-bailey castle in Oostvoorne, Netherlands. It was home to the Lords of Voorne, burgraves of Zeeland.

The Dutch name of this castle: Burcht van Voorne sets it apart from other Dutch castles. The only other Dutch castle which has 'Burcht van' prefixed, is the Burcht van Leiden. In medieval Dutch the words Burg, Burcht (Burh or Burgh) referred to a fortification which would serve as a refuge in times of danger. The word Huis (house), later Kasteel (castle) referred to the defendable home of a nobleman.

Before the construction of stone fortifications began, the medieval Netherlands had a number of burgs comparable to Viking ring fortressess. These were constructed in the ninth century, and had a diameter between 85 and 210 m. Examples are: Bergues, Middelburg, Souburg (southern Burg), Burgh, and Den Burg.

The Burcht van Leiden was founded shortly before 1061. It was then known as Leitheriburg. The place below the Burcht had been raised as a terp in the 10th century. Shortly before 1100 this castle consisted of a 9 m high motte with a wooden defensive building on top. In the late twelfth century, the Burcht of Leiden got a tuff wall, and became a shell keep. Meanwhile, the most important noblemen of Holland and Zeeland also began to build mottes, notably Egmond Castle and Borssele. These got brick walls shortly after 1200. The Burcht of Voorne belongs to this group of relatively old castles.

The Burcht of Voorne is a ruin. The highest surviving remains measure 4 m from the foundations. The castle consisted of a tower house with very thick walls. At the end of the 13th century, a ringwall was constructed around the main tower, about halfway from the top of the motte. The ringwall had four towers and a protruding gatehouse.

On the level terrain before the motte was the outer bailey. It had housing, manorial buildings, the great hall, the chapel, stables etc. The outer bailey has not been subjected to an archaeological excavation, but this configuration is known from maintenance accounts dating from the 14th to 16th centuries.

A picture of the buildings at Oostvoorne made by Cornelis van Alkemade in about 1700, shows the outer bailey, not only in front, but entirely encircling the motte.

Text adapted from “Burcht of Voorne” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Burcht van Voorne ranks #6,690 of 7,738 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #146 of the 200 mapped in Netherlands. Founded 1170, it is older than 81% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 544 atlas entries founded in the 12th century. 9 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is The Hague, 23 km away. See how Netherlands compares in the castle statistics.

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Read the full history on Wikipedia ↗