Ter Leyen Castle, Boekhoute, Belgium

Ter Leyen Castle is surrounded by a moat and a beautiful garden. It was built in the early 15th century as a fortified manor farm. The present appearance is Renaissance style. Today Ter Leyen can be booked for weddings and events.

User Reviews

Renée van der Heijden (19 months ago)
Omdat de ruimtes zo groot zijn wordt het niet heel warm, ondanks dat alle verwarmingen aan staan.

marian alin ionita (2 years ago)
Castle Ter Leyen

Björn Merlet (2 years ago)
Tolle Location

Marvin M (4 years ago)
We had an amazing weekend in this castle and for a really good price. It isn't the Hilton but has a good atmosphere. The small town itself isn't much to offer but with a nice group of people and enough groceries, you don't need anything else.

Gustav Gans (7 years ago)
This ist the perfect spot to have a very good time and impress your guests. The Castle ist just perfect from the outside as from the inside. Always again :)

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Photo from Flickr, copyright Monceau

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Kisimul Castle

Dating from the 15th century, Kisimul is the only significant surviving medieval castle in the Outer Hebrides. It was the residence of the chief of the Macneils of Barra, who claimed descent from the legendary Niall of the Nine Hostages. Tradition tells of the Macneils settling in Barra in the 11th century, but it was only in 1427 that Gilleonan Macneil comes on record as the first lord. He probably built the castle that dominates the rocky islet, and in its shadow a crew house for his personal galley and crew. The sea coursed through Macneil veins, and a descendant, Ruari ‘the Turbulent’, was arrested for piracy of an English ship during King James VI’s reign in the later 16th century.

Heavy debts eventually forced the Macneil chiefs to sell Barra in 1838. However, a descendant, Robert Lister Macneil, the 45th Chief, repurchased the estate in 1937, and set about restoring his ancestral seat. It passed into Historic Scotland’s care in 2000.

The castle dates essentially from the 15th century. It takes the form of a three-storey tower house. This formed the residence of the clan chief. An associated curtain wall fringed the small rock on which the castle stood, and enclosed a small courtyard in which there are ancillary buildings. These comprised a feasting hall, a chapel, a tanist’s house and a watchman’s house. Most were restored in the 20th century, the tanist’s house serving as the family home of the Macneils. A well near the postern gate is fed with fresh water from an underground seam. Outside the curtain wall, beside the original landing-place, are the foundations of the crew house, where the sailors manning their chief’s galley had their quarters.

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Ter Leyen Castle

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