Burg Gerkendahl

Burg Gerkendahl stands on a small island surrounded by a moat in the Abbabach valley, a marshy lowland in the Drüpplingsen district of Iserlohn. Built as a motte-and-bailey castle, it once had a square tower rising above the wet ground. The site was first recorded around 1150 as a fief of Werden Abbey, long before the stone remains appeared. Its importance grew in the 13th century when the märkisch-limburgischer Teilungsvertrag was negotiated here in 1271. A chapel founded by Wilhelm von Dahlhausen in 1361 served the household until it was demolished in 1778. By the late 18th century the old walls had already been pulled down, and the last fragments vanished in 1873. Today the field marks the vanished island, but the flat meadow still shows the outline of the former moat. A single information board stands beside the Abbabach, recalling the square tower that once rose above the marsh. Visitors walk a quiet farm track where the chapel once stood, and the only sound is the wind across the reedy lowland.