Dever Castle

Dever Castle, locally known as ´t Huys Dever, lies in the town of Lisse in the province of South Holland in the Netherlands.

Dever Castle is a keep which was built in around 1375 by Reinier De Ever, a knight and vassal of the Count of Holland, Zeeland and Hainaut; Albrecht van Beieren. It was situated on the border of the old dunes and the swampy inland. It consisted of the keep and a bailey surrounded by a broad moat.

In the 16th century a small extension was built against the round side. Therefore the moat between the keep and the bailey was filled in. This extension was later enlarged and the castle became a country mansion. The medieval tower was hidden out of sight at the back. People lived here till the 1750s after which it stood abandoned for almost a century.

Then in 1848 the 16th century extension collapsed and over the next five to ten years all but the tower was demolished by anyone needing building materials. The tower lost its roof during a storm in 1862, but the walls withstood all attempts at destruction by man and nature.

In 1945 the Dutch State gained ownership of the castle remains and sold it to the town of Lisse for fl1. By the time restoration began in 1973 all timber had gone, windows and doorways were eroded with grass and brushwood was growing on the walls. Only the cellar remained roofed.

Dever castle has been open to the public since 1978. In 1989 the foundations of the 16th and 17th century extensions were raised just above ground level to show the ground plan of the complex.

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