Bodelschwingh Castle - History (1850 to date)

In 1870 the small baroque gardens surrounding the castle was redesigned and extended as an English-style park by the landscape architect E. Petzold. This park encompassed the adjoining woods and linked the castle to the family cemetery "Temple of Peace" with an avenue of maple. Many works of art and fountains adorned the large park, which was divided and largely destroyed in the 1970s by the construction of the A45 motorway.

The turn of the century was accompanied by coal mining in the direct vicinity of Bodelschwingh Castle: the Westhausen pit opened in 1872 and ran until 1955. Thankfully, contracts ensured that the area directly below the castle was spared from mining, thus avoiding subsidence damage to the castle and the water supplies vital for the moat.

The male succession of the "von Bodelschwingh-Plettenberg" lineage was interrupted again when in 1867 the daughter of Count Carl Gisbert Wilhelm, Freiin Wilhelmine (Minette), married Reichsfreiherr Dodo Alexander zu Inn- und Knyphausen from Schleswig-Holstein. Since then, Bodelschwingh Castle has been owned by the family of Inn- und Knyphausen.
Around 1900 the northwest tower collapsed unexpectedly and was immediately rebuilt.

Whilst the castle itself was spared by the bombs of World War 2, some of its buildings and land were damaged. The Orangerie in the castle park was completely destroyed. Looters and English occupying forces stole substantial parts of the valuable household effects, but left the historically valuable library and the collection of antique paintings largely intact. In 1945 the land reform dictated by the British troops forced Carl Moritz Freiherr zu Inn- und Knyphausen to dissolve or sell parts of the land his family had purchased over generations. In the post-war years the castle became home to numerous members of the family who had been dispersed through expropriation or destruction.

For many centuries the family had lived mainly from agriculture, not only in the vicinity of the castle, but also on far away estates. This source of income was extended and modernised after the war. The castle itself was also restored between 1960 and 1964 using private funds. In the 1980s, the present lord of the manor, Tido Freiherr zu Inn- und Knyphausen converted the farm buildings around the inner courtyard into apartments and offices, and now runs the concept "Living and Working at Bodelschwingh Castle" alongside the farming business.

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