Lenhausen Castle, Moated castle in Lenhausen, Finnentrop, Germany

Lenhausen Castle is a moated water castle at Westfalenstraße 9 in the Lenhausen district of Finnentrop, Olpe district. Its three-storey rubble-stone building with three towers and an outer bailey stands on an irregular plan within a Gräfte, a water-filled moat. Coat-of-arms stones and wall anchors bear the date 1664, and a staircase wing was added in 1927.

Lenhausen was first mentioned in 1285 as the seat of a noble family, and since 1457 it has remained the ancestral seat of the von Plettenberg-Lenhausen family. The building history is largely unclear; the medieval core was expanded and enlarged in the second half of the 17th century, with the date 1664 on coat-of-arms stones and wall anchors. After long vacancies, extensive renovations followed in 1672–1673 and 1874, a staircase wing was added in 1927, and a fundamental restoration ran from 1974 to 1981.

The name Lenhausen comes from the village and the noble family recorded there in 1285; since 1457 the castle has been the continuous ancestral seat of the von Plettenberg-Lenhausen family. In the castle chapel stands an altar with a carved retable dated 1678, which visitors may see.

The castle is a private residence of the von Plettenberg-Lenhausen family, so visitors view it from outside; the entrance front faces Westfalenstraße 9 in the Lenhausen district of Finnentrop. The moat, the three towers and the outbuildings of the Vorburg can be seen from the surrounding lanes.

The castle chapel holds an altar with a carved retable dated 1678, the oldest dated piece of furnishing named in the sources. Wall anchors and coat-of-arms stones on the masonry carry the year 1664, marking the 17th-century expansion of the medieval core.