Ben Dijkhuis, born and raised Medemblikker, is the house historian at Radboud Castle. Because the castle has never been a family home, much of the information can only be found in the various archives. Without Ben and his detective work, we would never have known so much about the history of our beautiful castle.

 

An accidental love

That Ben would become so important to Radboud Castle did not make much sense. He studied chemical engineering and was a technical teaching assistant at Da Vinci College in Purmerend for many years. His passion for history arose by accident.

While walking with a friend in the park in Medemblik, she casually mentioned that they were now walking along the old city wall. Ben became curious and went to investigate. The rest ... is history.

 

Old accounts: a gold mine of information

That research took some doing. Reading and translating the handwritten documents required a course in paleography.

The old accounts in particular were a gold mine. These showed, for example, how large the burial domain really was at the time. Today's Vooreiland and Achtereiland also belonged to it and were used as court meadows.

 

Ben's mission: preserving and sharing knowledge

At the time (we're talking about twenty years ago), there was virtually nothing on the Internet. A shame, thought Ben. So he decided to set up his own site with all the information found about the West Frisian castles. Radboud Castle is the only one that still exists.

Ben wants not only to preserve this important piece of West Frisian history, but also to make it more widely known. He therefore gives regular lectures, both at Radboud Castle and at other locations. In addition, he is one of the guides to the castle.

 

More Ben

The stories Ben has found on Radboud Castle we are of course going to share with you. Want to see him live? Then keep an eye on our activities page for his next lecture.

Since 2019, Ben has retired and has even more time for all his interests. In addition to history, he has studied mineralogy and astronomy.

In addition, he plays in an Irish/Scottish band, Baloney Celtic Music. The particular structure of Celtic music inspired him to take a musicology course. More information on that can be found on his musicology website.