Ter Balk Castle

En un regard

Le château en bref

The estate of Ter Balk, also written Ter Balkt, in Nederokkerzeel (Kampenhout), originated in a watermill built on the Molenbeek. A lease dated 1230 shows it in the hands of the Abbey of St Michael in Antwerp, which had owned the site since 1145. The ‘Balgmolen’ still appears on a map of 1661, and at the end of the seventeenth century the stream bed was raised to form an aqueduct. The Ferraris map (1771–1775) shows a large body of water that had disappeared by the cadastral survey of 1829. In 1831, the mill belonged to the widow of Jan Vonck, of Leuven. Before 1892, the road was moved to enlarge the garden, and then a landscaped park of about four hectares, crossed by the Molenbeek, took shape around 1905, while the road was straightened around 1908. Jules Witman had the trees planted and the banks laid out in the second half of the 1920s. The present complex, in a neo-traditional style, results from restorations or reconstructions carried out in the early twentieth century and in 1968–1969, partly using reclaimed materials. The estate and the castle have been recognised as ‘vastgesteld bouwkundig erfgoed’ (officially designated architectural heritage) since 8 October 2021.