Today's Eringerfeld was already inhabited in early times. Several Bronze Age burial mounds have been found. Much later, a historical trace can be traced. There was an older settlement called "Erkerinkhusen", after which a noble family was named.
In 1300, Friedrich von Hörde acquired land in Erkerinchusen (Eringerfeld) and as early as 1367, the lords of Hörde expanded their holdings in the Eringerfeld Feldmark. In 1395, the Eringerfeld estate is sold, half to the Jungfrauenklosten convent in Lippstadt and half to the von der Borch family. In 1463, Temmo von Hörde and his wife Fry acquire half of the farm in Eringerfeld from Ludof von der Borch. After the division of the estate between the four brothers Temmen, Jorgen, Christoffer and Allhard von Hörde in 1529, Christoffer von Hörde receives Eringerfeld with the sheep farm; it is probably from this point in time that Eringerfeld becomes an independent manor.
In 1615, Christoph von Hörde purchased the second half of the estate, which still belonged to the monastery in Lippstadt. The baroque castle chapel, the previous building of which had fallen victim to a fire, is consecrated in 1661; remains of the magnificent altar can be found today in the Münster State Museum.
Between 1676 and 1699, Schloss Eringerfeld (moated castle) is rebuilt by the canons Johann Gottfried and Rhabanus Chriostph von Hörde as a family foundation.
In 1690, the new farmstead is built on the remains of the foundation walls of the manor, which had been destroyed by fire.
Baron Ludolph von Hörde auf Eringerfeld dies without descendants. After the death of his wife in 1792, Eringerfeld falls to the v. Hörde zu Schwarzenraben family according to the inheritance contract, who initially leave the castle empty. Later, it is temporarily inhabited and used as a hunting lodge and for economic purposes.
Engelbert Mathias von Hörde von Schwarzenraben dies childless in 1846. His wife Kunigundes von Asbeck, who inherits the entire estate, marries Colonel Otto von der Decken from Oldenburg. This marriage also remains childless and so Colonel von der Decken's daughter from his first marriage, Maria Kunigunde, inherits the estate. In 1863, she marries Baron Friedrich Klemens von Ketteler-Harkotten, with whom the von Hörde estate passes to the Barons von Ketteler. Six years later, their mother-in-law Kunigunde von Asbeck gives the young couple the Schloss Eringerfeld estate.
In 1873, the entire former von Hörde estate, with the exception of the manor house in Erwitte, is finally transferred to the Barons von Ketteler by way of a gift.
Renovation work on the castle began in 1875 and in 1878 Baron von Ketteler and his wife moved from the Mittelhausen estate to Schloss Eringerfeld.
During the Second World War, the castle was made available free of charge to the Steyler Missionaries and from 1946 to 1960 to the Jesuits.
Dr. Berna and Wilfried Kirchner then acquired the castle and ran a boarding school from 1961 to 1987. New school buildings and extensions followed around the castle. At peak times, up to 1,200 pupils from various types of school were taught here. Another change of ownership took place in 2013.
In 1985, the interior of the castle and the outbuildings were converted into a conference and training center with a hotel. The castle park was also restored according to old plans. The entire complex is a listed building.
The castle area is surrounded to the south, west and north by a dry moat carved deep into the rock. In order to be protected against attackers from the east, the outbuilding had virtually no windows to the outside, only a few embrasures. Today's windows were only broken into the outer walls in the 19th and 20th centuries.
The castle rectangle faces north-south and is surrounded by buildings on three sides. To the south, it is bordered by a gatehouse in the central axis and two shield walls.
A hand pump from 1874 still stands in the inner courtyard of the castle, which was used to pump rainwater from the 27-metre-deep cistern to the surface, thus supplying the castle with drinking water.
The best preserved part of the castle is the entrance hall with its two-tone stone floor, dark oak door frames and the magnificent stone fireplace frame with its supporting brackets, ornamented consoles and the Hörde coat of arms on the lintel. The main staircase is to the east of the hall. This is made of oak and leads from the upper floor to the attic on four sides with intermediate landings.
The ancestral hall, which received a wooden coffered ceiling and wall paneling in 1873, is also outstanding. In the dining room on the first floor, tapestries (picture weavings) from Schwarzenraben were also installed around 1873.
The former boarding school buildings were used in different ways after the boarding school was closed in 1987. The Unna-Massen main reception camp operated a branch from September 1989 to the end of July 1990. At times, more than 1,400 people were housed here - migrants from the GDR, resettlers and foreign refugees. The "Talenta" school for the highly gifted used the premises from 2000 to 2005. Since August 2006, the "Regenbogen Bildungswerkstatt e.V." from Paderborn has been responsible for the private grammar school and the private secondary school with boarding school.
Excerpts from J. Tommke.