Burg Zolchow

Burg Zolchow in Werder, Germany, was established as a fortified lowland castle in the late Middle Ages and occupies a place earlier settled by the West Slavic Heveller.

Before the medieval fortress stood at this narrow crossing of the lake, a Heveller settlement occupied the site. The first documentary reference named the place Zolgowe on 10 November 1290, when Heinrich von Friesack transferred an eight‑hufen leasehold, roughly 140 hectares, on the lakeshore to the Brandenburg cathedral canons. Cellar vaulting at the site has been dated to the 1200s, indicating substantial construction in the late 13th century.

The Brandenburg cathedral canons kept the property for roughly two centuries. During their period of control they erected defensive works around the site, including a surrounding ditch measuring about twelve metres in width, a drawbridge to control the crossing, and a large earth rampart. These fortifications terminated in the Großer Plessower See on both sides of the crossing.

In 1528 the cathedral canons exchanged the castle for revenues from Tremmen and Markee, passing the place to Junker Jakob von Rochow of Golzow. In 1616 Wolf Dietrich I von Rochow‑Golzow sold the fortified site and its appurtenances to his kinsman Hans XIII von Rochow‑Plessow for 13,133 thaler. Later owners named at the site include Wolf Dietrich II (mentioned 1623, died 1648), Hans IV von Rochow (owner 1649), Hans Ernst von Rochow (1633–1686), Hans Wilhelm I von Rochow (1672–1730), Hans Friedrich II von Rochow (1698–1787) and Gottfried Christian (1707–1774).

From 1616 until 1945 the estate belonged to the Plessower branch of the von Rochow family and for a long period served as the family’s principal residence, called the permanent house Zolchow. In the 1700s the property was used as a widow’s seat, and later its role diminished as it was leased out as an outlying farm. In 1805 a tenant flattened the rampart and filled in the former moat to convert the ground for agricultural use. A farm building suffered heavy fire damage in 1892. The main residential house was later used as a grain and potato store and was demolished in 1916, while smaller ancillary buildings subsequently fell into ruin. The cellar rooms that remain have been placed under monument protection and the place continues to be known locally as Burg Zolchow.