"So beautiful and peaceful park!!!"

Anelia M.

"Beautiful location to get married!!"

Marianne Van Gompel

"Sorghvliedt castle is located in a park with a pond and (partly preserved) rectangular moat. The castle and its appurtenances date back to the second quarter of the 18th century.

During the 16th century, there was a farm at this location, called 'Winckeleynde', and an initially small 'court of pleasure'. The property was in the possession of the du Bois family from 1660 to 1815, who had the current rococo castle built between 1745 and 1750 on the 16th-century foundations and cellars according to a design by Jan Peter Van Baurscheit the Younger, who was also responsible for the garden design in the years 1752-1753. The belvedere was erected at the beginning of the 19th century.

The cabinet map of the Ferraris (1770-1778) shows the castle south of Hoboken and surrounded by a rectangular moat. It is accessible from the west and south via a lane. There are several outbuildings outside the moat. A vegetable garden is depicted on either side of the moat, east and west. There is a park south of it. Avenues on the east and west sides surround the whole. Vandermaelen's map (1846-1854) depicts the Château de Zorg Vliet with a larger rectangular moat and an elongated pond south of the castle. This moat is not completely closed: part of the domain is not moated on the east and north sides.

In 1937, the municipality of Hoboken purchased the castle and park. In 1937-1940 the castle was used as a town hall. The park was later made publicly accessible and the castle was transformed into a district hall. During the restoration of 1972-1973, the original plaster of the main building disappeared. In the park, the former vegetable garden and orchard were replaced by sports fields, the two fountains come from Expo '58.

A cobbled road leads to the two-storey U-shaped castle under slate hipped roofs with round-arched skylights in a wooden frame. The originally plastered, brick cornice facades with corner stones on a small natural stone plinth show rectangular cellar windows (side and rear facades) and shuttered rectangular windows with negative blocks and flat bluestone sills. Natural stone was used for the elaborate rocaille frames of the striking arch-shaped (balcony) doors. The balcony railings are characterized by elegant ironwork.

The western main facade of nine bays has a central receding and a richly elaborate entrance with a facing of bluestone and a crowning crest with a coat of arms (du Bois) in a cartouche, flanked by a wild man and a woman with a banner. The facade is further characterized by a concluding curved water molding and volute-shaped wing pieces with armour, mirror and round arch door in profiled frames with decorative keystone and rocaille decor in the spandrels and free-standing columns with volute capitals under a wide balcony with wrought iron rococo balustrade. The left facade is dated and signed "CORNELIS MARCKX FECIT CONTIGH 1751". The side aisles in the central bay are marked by small balconies with wrought iron railings, signed "IAN BEUCKEN CONTIGH". The eastern rear facade shows a light central risalite under a triangular pediment with oculus and crowning turret."

Carol Bamps