Müllenark estate

Müllenark House, first mentioned in a document in 1078 as ‘Molenark’, was located around 100 metres north-east of the present-day estate. This fortified house, standing on an artificial hill, was surrounded by a moat up to 35 metres wide. The location of the house is still recognisable today as a low mound, a so-called motte. To the south of Haus Müllenark, archaeologists excavated a village ruin from the 12th to 13th century in 2005. Today, the Stein-, Hütten- and Schophovener Straße and the Bauweg are located in this area. This settlement appears to have been abandoned around 1260. In 1398, a ‘village’ of Müllenark is mentioned in a tax register of the Jülich fish master in addition to the ducal farm and the mill. There are 138 years between these two dates. The fact that one settlement was abandoned and another village paid levies suggests that these were two different places. Further archaeological investigations could probably solve this mystery.

Müllenark originally belonged to the aristocratic family and came to the Archbishop of Cologne in 1170. From the 14th century until 1794, it was a Jülich fief. The ‘von Molenark’ family was one of the most important noblemen in the Jülich region.

Heinrich von Müllenark held office as Archbishop of Cologne from 1225-1238. He is the best known of the von Müllenark family of noblemen. He died in Cologne in 1238 and was buried in Cologne Cathedral. Ernst von Müllenark was slain in Cologne on 30 March 1352. It seemed to be, that that he was the last male representative of the ‘von Müllenark’ family in Müllenark, as from now on the house of Banritzer von Müllenark appears as the new vassal.

1	Your location
2	Müllenark mill
3	Old brewery, no longer in existence today
4	Carriage house
5	Forecastle
6	Manor house
7	Battery tower
8	Small tower
9	Gardens
10	Corner tower, partially dilapidated
11	The origin of Haus Müllenark, today a low mound of earth, was a so-called motte
12	Course of the Müllenark mill pond, no longer existing in part today

The two-storey manor house was built on an almost square hill with a side length of 35 metres, surrounded by a moat around 9 metres wide. The castle also included the adjoining tenant’s house and a smaller tower at the south-east corner. There were also some farm buildings on the northern side. The complex was surrounded by a wall and a moat.

After further successions, Baron Johann Wilhelm von Metternich bought the remaining shares in Haus Müllenark in 1668. He was a descendant of the von Müllenark branch of the Tomburg family. He had the mighty outer bailey built in 1670. Originally it had three wings, was open to the main castle and connected to it by a wide moat and a brick bridge. The old brewery from 1713 was located in front of this outer bailey, which was outside the protective wall but connected to it by a wall.

The ‘coach house’ was built around 1940 when the brewery was demolished. It served as a farm building until a few years ago and was then left to decay.

The Metternichs were succeeded by distant relatives, the Counts of Villers-Masbourg (NL). In 1909, the drilling contractor Honnerbach from Hamm bought the estate at auction and had the old manor house replaced by a new villa in 1911. From 1914 to 1917, Mr and Mrs Taeter from Lontzen (B) were the owners, then the Dürener Metallwerke bought it. The mill and its land were acquired by a farmer from Schophoven.

Dürener Metallwerke had the farm thoroughly renovated after the First World War and sold it to the landowner Axer from Wegberg in 1929. This was followed by the sale to the Schagen family from Aachen in 1932 and to Mr and Mrs Rolfes from the Osnabrück area in 1951.

In 1981, Gut Müllenark was donated to the Communio in Christo in Mechernich. This social welfare organisation runs a hospice, a long-term care facility for those in need of intensive care and an elderly care facility. The community sold it to Rheinbraun AG, now RWE Power, which still owns it today (2025).