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© Eric Zeppenfeld · CC BY-SA 3.0

Haus Ingenraedt

Moated castle near Wankum, one of the oldest houses on the Lower Rhine – rebuilt in 1627 and now home to the Jagdschule Niederrhein.

Haus Ingenraedt, occasionally spelled Ingenrath, is a moated castle near Wankum and ranks among the oldest houses on the Lower Rhine. Its name means "in the clearing."

At a Glance

Type
Moated castle, former knight's estate
Location
small wooded area in Wankum, a district of Wachtendonk, about two kilometers northwest of the village center, on the left bank of the Niers
Layout
five-part complex on a pile-grate foundation
Island
roughly 115 × 85 meters, encircled by a moat, with a former outbuilding
Grounds
19th-century landscape park with old arborvitae, copper beeches and a few exotic species
Rebuilt
1627 by the de Haen brothers

Early History and Succession

A tax list from 1369 mentions a Deric in den Rade, though it is uncertain whether a permanent house already stood on the site. Haus Ingenraedt first appears in records in 1402 as "Huis ende Hoff" in the Amt Krickenbeck, a Guelders fief held by Gerhard Ingen Raide. From 1424 the Hertefeld family held the fief; through the marriage of Lysbeth von Hertefeld it passed to the von Bocholtz family in 1473. The estate later passed via a daughter to Werner Hundt zu Nuvenhoff, whose three daughters sold the by-then dilapidated, partly collapsed property to the brothers Arnold and Martin de Haen in 1626.

© Sir Gawain · Public domain

Rebuilding and Changing Owners

The de Haen brothers built a new house in 1627 and were once again granted the status of a knight's estate. It remained in the family until 1750, after which it passed through daughters to the de Winckel, van Wevelinckhoven and van Splinter families. In 1842 Adelgunde von Ruijs gave the house to her son Constantin von Ruys as a wedding gift; he served for many years as mayor of Wachtendonk, Wankum and Herongen. In 1868 Ingenraedt passed to the barons Geyr von Schweppenburg, who from 1876 lived instead at the nearby Haus Caen. In 1903 Max Geyr von Schweppenburg received the house as a wedding gift on his marriage to Countess Eugenie von Villers; the couple lived at Ingenraedt until 1914.

© Jean Joseph Tranchot · Public domain

The von Loë Family and World War II

Around 1930 Baron von Büllingen-Wevelinghoven acquired the estate. From 1932 his daughter Emilie and her husband Rudolf Baron von Loë lived in the house. Because Emilie was active in resistance against National Socialism, Ingenraedt became a meeting place for the Catholic resistance. Numerous paintings from the collection were destroyed during the Second World War. The Russian painter Dimitri von Prokofieff spent his final years at the estate as a guest of the von Loë family.

Architecture

The oldest part is a two-bay brick dwelling house of two stories on a footprint of 30 × 23 feet, with walls three feet thick. A five-sided tower with a curved cap rises at the southern corner. A stone coat of arms of the de Haen family and wall anchors on the southern stepped gable point to the year 1627. To the northeast follows a hall building with an attached chapel. An east wing was added in the 18th century and united under a shared roof with an extension built between 1863 and 1891; this was raised by a story in 1902 and given a small turret at the eastern corner. A 1910 addition provided space for a laundry, bathrooms and a storeroom.

Today

The house now serves as the home of the Jagdschule Niederrhein, run by its owner Felix Baron von Loë, a grandson of Emilie and Rudolf von Loë. Rooms can be rented for weddings and private celebrations.

Map

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Address

Langdorfer Str. 18
47669 Wachtendonk

Contact

02834 306

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Auto-generated, last verified: 2026-07-03

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