Sögeln is a

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony is a States of Germany, German state (') in Northern Germany, northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ' of the Germany, Federal Re ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. Since 1972, it has been a part of the city of

Bramsche Bramsche is a town in the district of Osnabrück, Lower Saxony, Germany. It is about north of Osnabrück, at . Population is 30,952 (2018). Subdivisions In 1971/72 12 previously independent municipalities were included into the town. *Achmer *B ...

. The village developed around a

castle A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...

from the 14th century.

History

Sögeln is a farming community located west of the manor of the same name in the north of

. A linden avenue, closed to public traffic, leads to the manor, which is surrounded by two moats fed by the Sögelner Hase river. The main building, dating from the end of the 18th century, is a functionally simple, two-story structure with three wings. It was built on the site of a castle first documented in the

14th century The 14th century lasted from 1 January 1301 (represented by the Roman numerals MCCCI) to 31 December 1400 (MCD). It is estimated that the century witnessed the death of more than 45 million lives from political and natural disasters in both Euro ...

. However, two brothers, Thethard and Heinrich von Sögeln, were already mentioned in documents in 1236. The oldest part of the still standing complex is the gate tower with loopholes on the ground floor; the baroque tower cap with the clock dates from the 18th century. The Sögeln manor frequently changed hands. It was owned by the families von Braken (1323), von Ledebur (from 1350), von Knehem (from 1426), von Langen (1590–1750), von der Horst (1750–1792), von Hammerstein (1793–1817), Rathgen (1817–1846), von Stoltzenberg (1846–1871), and von Rappard (1871–1995). It is currently owned by the von Bock and Polach families. In 1793, Friedrich Philipp von Hammerstein zu Equord acquired the estate and commissioned the construction of the new main house. After he died in

1802 Events January–March * January 5 – Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin, British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, begins removal of the Elgin Marbles from the Parthenon in Athens, claiming they are at risk of destruction during the Ott ...

, heavily indebted and without direct heirs, the estate was acquired by the general tax collector Rathgen in 1817. Through his stepdaughter, the property passed to the von Rappard family, whose descendants, the von Bock and Polach families, are the current owners. Around 1870, the young Prussian lieutenant Paul von Hindenburg frequently visited the estate. The future Reich President was engaged to Irmengard von Rappard, who died in 1871 at the age of only 17.

References

Villages in Lower Saxony {{Osnabrück-geo-stub