Keep of the Lords of Meldert

En un regard

Le château en bref

The Keep of the Lords of Meldert, in Meldert (Hoegaarden, Flemish Brabant), is a square residential tower flanked by a projecting stair tower, built of Gobertange stone, a local grey-white limestone. Set on marshy ground between two arms of the Molenbeek stream, it was surrounded by a moat and originally had two storeys above a cellar. Gautier van der Quaderbruggen, who acquired the estate of the Lords of Meldert in 1341, may have had it built after that date. The keep is mentioned in 1408, when Hendrik van Wencsele acquired all the possessions of the Lords of Meldert, and again in 1433, when Lybrecht van Meldert, a notable of Leuven, inherited it. It lost its military function in the 15th century. A fire damaged it in 1568; the Lords of Meldert are said to have then had Meldert Castle built, south of the village. Having fallen into ruin in the 18th century, only the cellar and the first level remain.