Kruikenburg Castle

Kruikenburg Castle in Ternat, Belgium, is a medieval fortress established by the lords of Wezemaal within the Duchy of Brabant. Its origins reach back to the early 1100s with a watchtower, later developing into a stronghold and a residence whose fabric dates from the later Middle Ages and which received major remodelling in the 1500s and again in the 1700s. The site mattered because of its position near the border with the County of Flanders and because it became the seat of locally important noble families and episodes of armed conflict.

In the early 12th century the lords of Wezemaal built a watchtower at what was then part of Wambeek, a construction that was recorded as having harmed the interests of the abbey of Nivelles and that may have been undertaken at the urging of the duke in Leuven. Positioned close to the Flemish frontier, the tower also carried strategic value for the Duchy of Brabant.

During the 14th century Everaard t’Serclaes, a Brussels knight and municipal official, acquired the lordship and made the site his home. In 1356 he expelled a Flemish garrison that had been sent by forces of Count Louis of Male, and he transformed the existing fortification into a moated residential castle. While resident at Kruikenburg he had an ice cellar constructed at the junction of Sterrelaan and Statiestraat and is associated with a covered passage linking the castle to Saint Gertrude’s church. Everaard later entered into a feud with Sweder d’Abcoude, lord of Gaasbeek, and was murdered; he was buried in the church opposite the castle.

From the 1500s to the 1800s the De Fourneau family lived at Kruikenburg, enlarging the defensive works and, in the 1700s, converting the complex into a more domestic residence. In 1662 the lord of Kruikenburg under the De Fourneau line was raised to the rank of count. Under French rule the county as an administrative entity was abolished, though the castle itself remained standing. In the early 20th century the De Lichtervelde family occupied the house. Later in the twentieth century the property was used by the Lassalian Brothers, who placed part of a primary school, De Brug, within the castle complex. The castle is now a protected monument and the surrounding park belongs to the municipality of Ternat. Local civic emblems preserve the site’s heraldic legacy: earlier municipal colours referenced the arms of Count t’Serclaes and the municipality’s post-1976 coat of arms displays the De Fourneau arms beneath an image of Saint Gertrude.