Burg Jennelt

Burg Jennelt was a medieval stronghold in Jennelt, a village in the Krummhörn district of Lower Saxony. It stood beside the church on a raised mound called a Warft, surrounded by a moat. Archaeologists found a layer of burning from the 9th century beneath the later castle site. By the 15th century the Manninga family ruled from here as local chieftains. The Beninga family also held power in Jennelt between 1426 and 1470.

The castle began as a stone house built by the Mannings in the 15th century. Hoyko Manninga sold the estate in 1540 to his great-nephew Christoph von Ewsum because of heavy debts. The Innhausen and Kniphausen family bought the lordship next and replaced the old house with a new building in the 16th century. Wilhelm zu Innhausen und Knyphausen or his son Dodo may have ordered the rebuilding. By the 18th century Amalia Schönhausen lived in the castle.

Visitors today see the church standing where the castle once rose. The old moat still traces a square around the churchyard. Remains of the 16th-century stone house lie beneath the ground. A local information board explains the site’s history. The peaceful Warft offers views across the flat East Frisian landscape.