Landsfort Herle

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Part of the wall of landsfort Herle, believed to be one of the oldest wall still recognisable in the Netherlands, part is now be excevated

Schelmentoren from the side closest to the old wall

Landsfort Herle was a fortification with moat in, what now is, the centre of Heerlen (roughly the current Pancratiusplein), it was probably build by the counts van Ahr-Hochstaden (also referd to as Here van Are)^[1]. The name Landsfort (‘fort of the land’) comes from the fact that the fortification come under the responsibility of the land. In the 13th century Heerlen, and thus also Landsfort Herle, come in to the possession of the dukes of Brabant ^[2], the Landsfort was (re)build by the dukes of Brabant in 1244^[3].

A marquette of the fort was constructed from a map form 1787 found while the Pancratiuskerk was heavily reconstructed in the sixties. The fort had three gates and had two towers (the bell tower of the church and the Schelmentoren, both with 2 metre thick walls)^[4].

In the roof of the church were little rooms for the inhabitants of Heerlen to take shelter in case of hostilities, unfortunately these rooms were destroyed when a, supposedly German, bomb hit the church at new years night 1944/1945 ^[5].