Breitenbend

Breitenbend is a former castle site in the westernmost part of North Rhine-Westphalia. It stands in broad, wet meadows called Benden beside the Rur river, just outside the town of Linnich. The site began as a fortification in the ninth century and was first recorded in the 14th century as a Brabant fief. For centuries it belonged to the von Pallandt family and was rebuilt after damage in wars. Swedish and Hessian troops occupied it during the Thirty Years War and Guillaume de Lamboy’s imperial soldiers destroyed it near the war’s end. After the destruction the remaining parts were used as a farm. In 1908 the Düsseldorf engineer Joseph Losenhausen bought the estate. During the Second World War the site suffered further damage. In 1950 the last surviving tower of the outer bailey was pulled down. By 1973 all remaining ruins had been removed and the ground levelled. Today the area is a quiet riverside meadow with no visible traces of the old castle. Visitors can walk along the Rur’s banks and see the flat, grassy site where the buildings once stood. The broad meadows stretch away on either side, and the river flows quietly past the former location. There are no signs or structures left, only the open landscape and the sound of water.