Schelenburg, Water castle in Bissendorf, Germany.

Schelenburg is a moated castle in Schledehausen, a district of Bissendorf in Lower Saxony, Germany. A Gothic residential tower forms its core, ringed by a water-filled moat and carrying Renaissance details on its outer walls.

The castle was first recorded in 1160 and originally belonged to the lords of Sledesen. It passed to the von Schele family in the late 14th century, who left their mark on the building through a series of changes over the following generations.

The name Schelenburg derives from the von Schele family, who took over the castle in 1396 when Rabodo von Schele married the heiress Elisabeth von Sledesen. The nearby village of Schledehausen is named after the earlier Sledesen family. The castle is not open to the public, so interior rooms cannot be visited.

The castle sits on Burgweg 1 in Schledehausen and is easiest to reach by car. Access may be limited, so it is worth checking in advance whether tours or visits are available on the day you plan to go.

In its early years, the only way to enter the castle was by a steep ladder, because the moat was kept completely full and left no dry approach. This made it one of the harder structures to storm in the area.