Westerburg (Groothusen)

The Westerburg was a high-medieval castle in Groothusen, a village in the Krummhörn district of Lower Saxony. It stood apart from the village mound, on the western edge of the settlement. Three such late-medieval castles once stood in Groothusen, built when the leading local family split into two branches in the 13th century. The Beninga family, an East Frisian chieftain family, held the Westerburg as their main seat. In 1435 Hamburg and the Cirksena family captured and destroyed it, levelling the walls and filling the ditches. A few years later the villagers rebuilt the fortress after open conflict with Hamburg. Redward II Haitadisna Beninga regained the castle in 1442 and had it rebuilt in 1452, restoring both buildings and defences. Today the site shows remains of the double moat system and ramparts that once enclosed a roughly 50-by-50-metre island. A stone house stood at the centre of this island. A Gulfhaus from about 1800 now occupies the outer bailey. Parts of the inner and outer ditches survive, though the middle ditch has been filled in.