[3] The archaeological excavations at the castle grounds led to a big surprise while digging east of the keep.

Here the archeologists found a lot of tuff at a depth of 2.5 m, a few decimeters above Amsterdam Ordnance Datum.

They also found the remains of a cemetery, with skeletons aligned east west, and buried after the tuff wall was made.

[6] The first castle built at Haamstede consisted of a central keep inside a square surrounding wall with a gatehouse.

This was primarily deduced from the size of the brick, which is 29.5-31 * 14.5-15 * 7.2-8 cm laid in Flemish masonry bond.

This way the tower house, or keep, was really a refuge of last resort, instead of a part of the main defensive line.

The keep itself has a connected external gate building (not the gatehouse), which is very rare in the Netherlands.

The room had six relatively large windows of 150 * 64 cm, which could be closed by single shutters on the inside.

This room was in open connection (no door) with the top floor of the gate building.

[9] The small gate building connected to the keep, guarded its entrance, which could be closed by a portcullis which could slide down through grooves in the walls.

In the length the building had a stair which rose 3.10 m to reach a platform before the door of the main hall of the keep.

Above the bottom of the stairs, there was a small barrel vault, which supported a space from which the portcullis could be operated.

This kind of hid the original gatehouse building, and later led to the strange shed roof.

[4] Next, on the northwest corner, the remains of a foundation which protruded into the moat were found.

The wing was extended to the east for about 10 m, and here the remains of two circular bread ovens were found.

[13] In October 1299 John I, Count of Holland, then gave Haamstede to his dear brother Witte (1280/1282–1321).

In 1313 Witte again got Haamstede granted to him, as well as a lot of other territories of the Van Renesse family on Schouwen.

After the death of Witte his extensive goods remained undivided till 1335.

After an (armed) conflict with the Lord of Hodenpijl, Louis definitely gained control of Haamstede in 1468.

[17] Jan's son René (?-1572) married Beatrix de la Chambre.

Their daughter Maria Catharina van Brugge married Louis de la Baume Lord of Perez etc.

There were four buyers, but in 1863 Mr. C. van der Lek de Clerq became the sole owner.