M: Where did the family originate? We don’t really know. Overall, the Lords of Lette have disappeared almost without a trace. Their former castle has been reduced to a few stone ruins. The Lords of Lette officially surfaced in 1175, when the name first cropped up in a document. Actually, the document mentions a certain Luidolf von Lette, who was in the service of the Bishop of Münster.
F: After 1399, the Lords of Lette slipped back into obscurity. In the end, they probably went bankrupt. Because their lordships had certainly lived it up in the interim. Finds have included oyster shells and broken pieces of Chinese porcelain. A kinsman of the von Lettes, one Hermann von Merveldt, sold off the castle in 1392.
M: Their seat originally consisted of an outer bailey with farm buildings, and a keep that included a chapel. These were surrounded by several flooded trenches – moats. Over the centuries, the estate changed hands several times; the castle visibly deteriorated, and the western part of the structure was finally demolished in 1875 to make way for the Dortmund to Gronau railway line. Today, the Cardinal von Galen Primary School occupies part of the remaining grounds. The last owner, Graf Korff genannt Schmising, threw open the sale of land on the former castle estate to local Lette residents.
Fotos: © Heimatmuseum Lette
