Schaloen Castle

Schaloen Castle (Dutch: Kasteel Schaloen) is a castle in Oud-Valkenburg in the South Limburg municipality of Valkenburg aan de Geul in The Netherlands. The castle is a national monument. Together with the Johannes de Doperkerk and Genhoes, it is part of the protected face of Oud Valkenburg. It is also part of the Buitengoed Geul & Maas.

The castle is located in the meadow of the river Geul near the village of Oud-Valkenburg. The canal around the house is fed with water from the Molenbeek, a Geul branch that formed the main branch of the Geul in the 16th century. The castle is located north of the Oud-Valkenburgerweg, the through road from Valkenburg to Schin op Geul.

At the end of a driveway, one arrives at a watermill and then, through a gatehouse, on a square where the castle and forecourt are located. The marlstone Schaloensmolen from 1699 was originally a ban mill, but nowadays only serves as a demonstration mill. In the castle garden, the local IVN association has created a Limburg botanical garden, which is open to the public.

The rectangular castle is built of marl and originally dates from the 12th century. Then it was a bit smaller. It was expanded in the following century, but almost completely burned down in 1575. On the map Jacob van Deventer in 1550, the castle with attribution Sloenes clearly visible in its current form. In the middle is a residential tower with an extension as an entrance. A wing has been added on both sides. The arkel turrets date from the 16th century. There is a wide canal around it.

Johan Reinier Hoen van Cartils restored the castle in 1656, after years of vacancy. An inscription in Latin says that after the fire in 1575, the couple Hoen van Cartils and Johanna Maria van der Merwijck saved and restored the building. The state in 1656 is also a rectangular building with 4 storeys under a gable roof and a vaulted cellar. The different types of marl show that materials have been reused in the various restorations. Restorations followed in 1721 and 1738. In 1721 a tithe barn is also built, which now functions as a hotel.

After the French occupation in 1814, the castle became the property of the De Villers Masbourg d'Eclaye family .

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

Schaloen Castle ranks #3,639 of 8,133 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #33 of the 201 mapped in Netherlands. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 1,133 times in the last 60 days, more than 52% of the atlas. 44 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Aachen, 19 km away. See how Netherlands compares in the castle statistics.

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