Bentheim

Bentheim grew beneath the castle of its counts, a great stronghold first mentioned in 1116. The market town was for centuries the centre of the county of Bentheim, close to the lands of Münster and the Dutch border. Its sandstone quarries supplied a valuable building material: between the fifteenth and eighteenth centuries stone from Bentheim and nearby Gildehaus travelled to the Netherlands, Flanders and Denmark. It was used in buildings including the tower of Groningen's Martinikerk and the Royal Palace in Amsterdam. Sulphur springs discovered around 1711 later gave the place another source of renown.