Gräfgenstein Castle, Medieval castle in Ratingen, Germany

Gräfgenstein Castle is a partly preserved medieval hilltop castle on a steep slope above the Angerbach in Ratingen. Its core is a four-and-a-half-storey residential tower of unplastered rubble stone with a eaves height of 13.30 m; adjoining buildings survive only on the downhill side and now serve as farm outbuildings. The ramparts, gate and ditches on the northern approach side are gone, and a low mound on the west may be the remains of a second tower.

No founding charter survives; the castle is thought to have been built in the 13th century as a ministerial seat and military base for the Counts of Berg. A 15th-century document names it Griffgenstein. Around 1500 it passed to the Count of der Recke, who sold it to Johann Gogreve, and through inheritances and marriages it reached the families Binsfeld and Wachtendonk. In 1860 it came to the Counts of Spee, who leased it to farmers; since 2022 the Scheulen family has owned and restored it.

The name Gräfgenstein probably refers to the Counts of Berg, who used the site as a ministerial seat; a 15th-century document calls it Griffgenstein. From 1860 the Counts of Spee owned it and leased it to farmers, and farming continues in the adjoining buildings today. The castle is private and can only be viewed from outside.

The castle stands on private land about 700 m southeast of Eggerscheidt, a district of Ratingen, and can only be viewed from outside. The preserved buildings sit on a steep slope roughly 30 m above the former ford of the Anger stream, so the approach is uphill. Do not enter the farmyard.

On the west side a low mound has never been archaeologically examined; it may be the remains of a second tower. The surviving four-and-a-half-storey residential tower is built of unplastered rubble stone and reaches a eaves height of 13.30 m.