Vilich Castle or Schneckenburg (today's Lede Castle) lies in the lowlands of the old Sieg bed between Vilich and Geislar. Its history goes back to the 13th century. A residential tower surrounded by water was probably built around 1200. In 1361, the residential tower was extended into a castle house, which was the ancestral seat of the knightly dynasty von Schillink von Vilich. The first named inhabitant of this castle in 1361 was Knight Johann Schillink von Vilich, who was court master and councillor to the Archbishop of Cologne. After the dynasty died out in the first quarter of the 15th century, the widow of the last Schillink of Vilich, Nella von dem Bongart called von Bergerhausen, gave the castle to her next husband, Statz von dem Bongart. At the beginning of the 16th century, the castle passed to the Barons von Blanckart. During the Truchsessian War and the Thirty Years' War, large parts of the castle complex were destroyed.

At the beginning of the 18th century, the castle came into the possession of Vilich Abbey until it was sold again by the Prussian government after secularisation. The owners were the banker Herstatt, followed by Baron von Carnap zu Bornheim - a member of the von Claer family, who had been established in the country since 1869, and who finally sold the property in 1904 to the director Weinlig from Dillingen. He had the castle completely rebuilt in the style of late historicism and gave it not only its present appearance but also its present name "Burg Lede". A further sale then went to the mother of the penultimate owner, Imperial Countess Berghe von Trips. Since 1987, Baron von Loe has been the owner of the castle.

The castle
It is a moated castle consisting of a main castle and an outer castle. The old enclosure wall of the outer castle with the Romanesque portal made of trachyte is still preserved. A small bridge leads to the square courtyard of the main castle, which is made of rubble stone, basalt and trachyte. The oldest building element is the Romanesque tower, while the remaining building elements date back to Johann Schillink's reconstruction work in the 14th century.

Notes
The object "Burg Lede" is a valuable feature of the historical cultural landscape area Vilich (cultural landscape area Regional Plan Cologne 443) and a registered monument (list of monuments of the city of Bonn, no. A 1647).

Source: Kuladig