Burg Hainchen

Burg Hainchen is recorded from at least 1290 and originated in the medieval period as the fortified residence of local lords in what is now Netphen, Germany. An earlier document of 1239 records Count Heinrich II of Nassau transferring the revenues of the Netphen parish to the Premonstratensian nunnery at Keppel at the request of his vassal Friedrich vom Hain, who had founded that house on his estate.

In 1313 the then-owners sold the site to Count Heinrich I of Nassau-Siegen, bringing the property into Nassau influence in the early 14th century. By 1355 the castle was held as a Nassau fief and granted to the knight Konrad von Bicken. A descendant, Philipp von Bicken, secured the entire holding, including the castle and the valley called Tal zum Hain, as a fief in 1443 and carried out enlargements that added a chapel on the northeast side of the main house.

In the opening decades of the 1500s the von Bicken family made the water castle their principal residence and strengthened it with defensive walls and bulwarks. In 1511 the Nassau liege lord Johann V agreed that Nassau troops could be stationed there in perpetuity. Johann Adam von Bicken, born at the castle, later entered the church hierarchy and served from 1601 to 1604 as Archbishop and Elector of Mainz and as Archchancellor of the Holy Roman Empire.

By the 18th century the von Bicken line was economically weakened and sold the property in 1711 to the Prince of Nassau-Siegen; further transfers placed Burg Hainchen in the possession of Prince Wilhelm IV of Orange on 7 July 1747. In the 19th century, after the site passed to Prussia, the buildings fell into decay and in 1864 the last two main towers were taken down, their masonry reused to build the road between Hainchen and Rittershausen.

In the 20th century the structure was assigned to the Prussian forest administration for housing and economic uses and in 1945 empty rooms temporarily accommodated the bombed-out St. Josefs children’s home. A conservation workshop proposed in the 1960s by Professor Otto Sticht did not proceed, but stewardship passed in the 1970s to the Siegerländer Burgenverein, which promoted conservation and rebuilding. Work began with a foundation-stone laying on 21 February 1976 and the restored water castle was handed over on 15 January 1977. Since restoration the site has been operated by the Institut Lebenshilfe as a place for recreation and residential support for people with disabilities and for elderly guests, and the adjacent park has been maintained as a cultural meeting area.