Marquette Castle

Marquette Castle is an 18th-century manor house in Heemskerk, Netherlands, occupying the site of the previous 13th-century Heemkskerk Castle, or Huis te Heemskerk.

The first version of Marquette Castle was a round water castle dating from the 13th century. The round water castle is known from many old pictures. These suggest at least one building along its wall. They also show its later use as a walled garden with a pond.

In 1802 the last remains of the water castle were demolished. All that remained were the very wide moats. In 2021 the castle terrains were investigated with ground-penetrating radar and two other non-invasive techniques. These showed the water castle, as well as its gatehouse. The outer diameter of the water castle proved to have been about 40 m. This is larger than Egmond Castle's round water castle which measures slightly less than 30 m.

Apart from the known round water castle, other parts of the first castle are unknown. It might have been that there was a predecessor on what later became the outer bailey of the round water castle.

The water castle was probably deserted in the later fourteenth century, as its defensive capabilities had become obsolete. The buildings on the outer bailey were then changed, and enlarged to become the precursor of the current castle.

The current castle consists of two parallel wings, and a perpendicular small gate wing. The relation to the previous castle has not been investigated very well. Separate finds have not been analyzed, and not much has been published about it.

The current castle has three vaulted basements. One of them shows a thick wall of thirteenth century brick. A chapel from about 1555 can be seen west of the bridge on the between 1741 and 1759 picture. Its entrance was later found in the second basement. During the renovation of the kitchen in 1980, a fireplace was found that might date from the fourteenth or fifteenth century.

The castle is known to have become a manor in the first quarter of the sixteenth century. At that time Daniël de Hertaing Lord of Marquette-en-Ostrevant started to change the castle, and renamed it for his lost Lordship of Marquette. All that remains from this time is the high stair tower.

In 1738-1741 Pieter Rendorp designed the stately eastern wing with its double roof, avant-corps and stone pilaster strips. The decoration of the gate also belongs to this time.

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

Marquette Castle ranks #5,334 of 8,133 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #62 of the 201 mapped in Netherlands. Founded 1250, it is older than 69% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 860 atlas entries founded in the 13th century. 13 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Amsterdam, 23 km away. See how Netherlands compares in the castle statistics.

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Read the full history on Wikipedia ↗