Castles in Belgium

Beersel Castle

An attractive and intriguing shaped little fortress on the outskirts of Brussels.

The first walls of Beersel went up in around 1280-1300, and the castle was built to protect nearby Brussels from the marauding Flemish. 

For that reason, Beersel is full of formidable features to endance it's defensive nature. The castle is surrounded by a deep moat (which, today, you'll have to cross by drawbridge) and phenomenally thick walls. It's riddled with arrow-slots and murder-holes; ramparts span the entire courtyard; and each of the three turrets affords extensive, strategic views across the surrounding countryside.

Interestingly, in the 1800s, Beersel castle was transformed into a cotton-factory.

  

Gravensteen Castle, 'The Castle of the Counts'

To set the scene, the wooden foundations of Gravensteen were built back in the early 1000s, and the first stones were laid in around 1180.
SItuated in Ghent, the castle was initially designed as a defensive fortress, and took many design cues from the crusader castles in the old Holy Lands.

Over time, the castle quickly developed from a defensive outpost to a luxury residence for the Counts and nobility of this Belgian region. The castle remained a luxurious residence until the late c17th.
In the c18th, things took an extremely surprising turn, as even Gravensteen Castle became swept-up in the then-booming Belgian textile industry.

 
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