Huis te Riviere

Te Riviere Castle (also known as Huis Mathenesse) is a ruinous castle located in Schiedam, Netherlands.

The first reference to the place was in 1268 as Woninghe ter Nieuwer Schie (House on the new Schie). The new Schie was the extension of the Schie now known as Schiedamse Schie. At its confluence with the Nieuwe Maas, Schiedam was built. At the time the branches of the Schie to Rotterdam and Delfshaven did not yet exist. Therefore the preferred route for traffic to Delft and further on to Leiden and Haarlem passed along the site of the castle.

The castle's current name Huis te Riviere (house on the river) sounds suspiciously romantic, but was actually the first accepted name of the castle in medieval times. At the time, and in its context, 'house' meant a type of castle. The river was the river Merwede. After the Old Rhine had been diverted near Wijk bij Duurstede in 1122, the Lek became its main bed. The Lek now flows into the Nieuwe Maas, but in medieval times this was known as Merwede. The current Nieuwe Maas is only fed by the Rhine. Its shore is now about 1.5 km south of the castle, but this reroute of its bed already started in the 13th century.

The castle is also known as Huis Mat(h)enesse. Matenesse was the name of a nearby polder and lordship. Lord Dirk of Matenesse acquired the castle (Burch) known as House te Riviere in 1339. The castle then took the name of its proprietor.

The current Te Riviere Castle consists of the remains of the castle as it was when it was destroyed in 1574. A painting from around 1574 shows its earlier appearance. The current ruins consist of a 20 by 17.5 m area. On it are the lower part of a tower house and the foundations of some walls.

The base of the tower house measures 12 by 12 meters. The wing north of it measures 8 by 17.5 m. The remaining southwestern space measured 12.5 by 5.5 m. In an investigation, Dutch archaeologist Jaap Renaud concluded that the small west side of the northern wing had a stepped gable, and that the remaining southwestern part was divided in two, and got two west-facing stepped gables, leading to a consistency between the painting, and the archaeological evidence. Renaud concluded that the painting indeed reflected the 1574 appearance.

Text adapted from “Te Riviere Castle” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Huis te Riviere ranks #6,502 of 8,134 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #107 of the 201 mapped in Netherlands. Founded 1262, it is older than 69% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 861 atlas entries founded in the 13th century. 13 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Rotterdam, 5 km away. See how Netherlands compares in the castle statistics.

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Read the full history on Wikipedia ↗