Haus Kolk, Water castle in Uedem, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Haus Kolk is a water castle in North Rhine-Westphalia surrounded by a moat that still marks its boundaries. The complex includes multiple buildings arranged around courtyards, showing how medieval fortified residences were organized and constructed.

Haus Kolk is first documented in 1319 as Nyenhuyss, when Diderich de Collich appears in the Urbar of the Counts of Kleve. In 1484 the estate passed as a dowry to the von Egeren family, and in 1531 Ida von Egeren brought it to Stephan VI von Hertefeld, who rebuilt it as a late Gothic castle house with Drachenfels trachyte and a double moat. Spanish troops sacked it after 1609; Jobst Gerhard von Hertefeld erected the present Dutch Baroque-Classicist manor in 1648.

The name Kolk comes from the family von Kolk, a younger line of the von Holthausen family from Uedem, who took the name after acquiring the estate. The Hertefeld family, who inherited it in 1531, still owns Haus Kolk today, more than 650 years after its founding. The double moat system and the 1648 manor house in Dutch Baroque classicism reflect the family's status and their ties to the Dutch struggle for independence.

The site is accessible year-round from outside, with views of the buildings and moat from surrounding paths and roads. Check ahead about any opportunities for interior access or guided visits, as these may vary by season.

The moat's southern and eastern sections hold layers of burnt debris and collapsed masonry from the Thirty Years' War, evidence of the castle's destruction that visitors can still see in the excavated ditch.