La
Licorne
THE HOUSE
Presumably the present La Licorne stems from a Tower
Castle built around 1243. That year has been adopted for its founding to match
with the first record about the upcoming nobleman Arnoldus de Buchoven. However, there is room to assume an earlier date.
|
|
In those days a plain fortified tower was the
common beginning for a stronghold. The interior of La
Licorne displays an ancient wall, which
reveals one of the arched windows. During excavations in 1981 massive
Medieval foundations came into sight. Image after
drawing by Mariana Dee
Ben van Mierlo |
|
Naturally, this first stone-built
house of Bokhoven was placed in the centre of the village close to the river
levee. It was the period that those levees were being raised and strengthened
into dikes for the first time. Later, fill upon fill made the dikes higher,
wider, stronger and safer. Alas, this first fortress of Bokhoven was destroyed te vuur en te zwaard [by flame and sword] in 1498.
|
In an earlier stage expansion of the manor on an adjacent lot had started. Since this was low-lying land, a moat was dug to deliver the material for a dike around the new building site. Eventually a full fledged castle emerged from those activities. The new embankement embraced the former tower castle bringing the ground level around it much closer to the former high windows. In the local handing down La Licorne remained known as a place for the storage of ammunition. The remnants of the tower could well have served the purpose, since they were laying at a safe distance from both the new building and the church. The second Castle of Bokhoven was heavily damaged in 1672, the rampjaar [annum of disaster]. It did not survive a second beating in the aftermath of the French Revolution by troops under General Pichegru in 1794. Longtime known as "'t Huis van Bokhoven" a recent
publication says this old drawing represents another
-nearby- castle |
|
|
|
After their return from refuge the French nobility owning the place shied away from restoring the huge ruin, and reinstated a residence around the remnants of La Licorne. They shaped it after the foregoing castle: both display a tower on one side of the building and a step-gable on the back. Of course the earlier one dated from Renaissance while the new house was styled in fashionable Tudor with arched doors and windows. In 1981 an addition was completed in the local Bossche School style. |
|
The
present House of La Licorne and
its Coat
of Arms
|
|
|
MORE ABOUT
|
Bronnen NL |