50°42′27″N 05°46′02″E / 50.70750°N 5.76722°E / 50.70750; 5.76722

The Château de Wodémont.

The Château de Wodémont or Walberg Castle is a fortified house immediately east of the Belgian village of Mortroux within the municipality of Dalhem, Wallonia. It is now used as a private residence.[1]

The Château de Wodémont lies at the top of an incline, on an outcrop of a plateau, and is close to the Berwinne, lying just to the south of the river.

History

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Around 1063 the castle was variously named as Waldenborch and Waldenberge. The old tower itself dates from the 11th or 12th century. A Latin document from 1143 mentions the tower using the name of Waldemonte. It had a defensive significance for the Duchy of Limburg because the valley below the castle marked the border between the because the county of Dalhem and the Duchy.

A southern wing was added to the tower in the 17th century while the eastern wing was added in 1860.[2] In 1513, on the death of John of Neufchâteau, the manor and Château de Wodémont passed to Balthasar van Moir Walde.[3]

During the Second World War, the Château was occupied by the Germans and then subsequently by the Americans during the Battle of the Bulge.

References

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  1. ^ "Wodémont". Chateaux of Belgium. AdB. Archived from the original on 9 December 2014. Retrieved 3 August 2013.
  2. ^ Poswick, Guy (1951). Les Delices Du Duches De Limbourg (in French). Verviers. pp. 409 to 413.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  3. ^ Bulletin de la Société d'art et d'histoire du diocèse de Liége (in French). Vol. IX. Liège: Société d'art et d'histoire du diocèse de Liége. 1895. pp. 310, 311.