Carol Bamps

Review of Dienstencentrum Hof Ter Welle

Castle at the end of a avenue of beech and wild ch...

Castle at the end of a avenue of beech and wild chestnut trees. Broad oval wall, trimmed with a row of trees, within which a spacious, trapezoidal front courtyard with school buildings and to the east - accessible via a brick bridge on three basket arches - the castle on a rectangular plan. A stone bridge with cast iron railings connects the forecourt with the agricultural lands to the south.



Access to the domain is through a gate with Gothic profiles and basements on the reveals (15th century), covered by a straight lintel since 1866, replacing the collapsed pointed arch. Above it round arch niche with Madonna statue. Preserved wing gate with ironwork from the 16th century.

Front courtyard with U-shaped school buildings, built in 1858-1862. Painted anchored brick construction on pecked plinth and covered by gable roofs. Rectangular windows on bluestone leakage thresholds; ditto doors (preserved woodwork). South wing with an older core from the 17th century, noticeable by the wall braces in the left side gable, two monastery frames with sandstone sill there, and traces of cross-frames in the rear facade.



Inner courtyard with an octagonal stair tower in the northeast corner under the tent roof with crowning bell tower. At the bottom: double barge pump. In the southwest corner, a portal under a muzzled gable roof. Richly profiled bluestone mirror arch door frame on floor tiles; volute keystone and corrugated cornice. Oak paneled door with balusters in the center.



Interior spanned by plastered basket-arch cross rib vaults, separated from each other by girdled arches with rocailles.