You can see the side and back of Ooigem Castle from the Oude Leie; the front from the entrance gate on Desselgemsestraat.
On an information board on site you will find this explanation:
A castle was possibly built here in the 9th century to protect Harelbeke. The oldest known lord was mentioned in 1080 as Lambertus de Odenghem. Around 1260, the castle came into the possession of the lords of Luxembourg. They probably had a stone castle built in the 13th century.
At the end of the 14th century, a fire is said to have raged and in the course of the 15th century the castle fell into disrepair.
In 1510, the lordship was sold to the De Gros family, who made it habitable again. In 1576, however, the castle was plundered by iconoclasts and fell into disrepair again. During the 17th century, the castle was rebuilt on the old foundations, probably by order of Charles de Gros, the first regular resident.
In 1693, the castle came into the hands of the De Lens family as an inheritance. A chapel and a Louis XV-style staircase were added, the salons were redecorated, new stables and coach houses appeared in the farmyard.
The park was laid out. Petrus Verhaeghe, mayor of Ooigem, lived in the castle after the French Revolution and in 1889 Bernard Verhaeghe, who was mayor of Ooigem at the time, bought the castle.
His son Alfons Verhaeghe was visited several times by Oscar Wilde. 'Op het kasteel', the story by Stijn Streuvels from 1904, is also set in this castle.
In 1937, a number of farm buildings in the farmyard were demolished, but the dovecote remained. The garden was redesigned, on a smaller scale than before. According to literature, the domain once housed prisons, storage areas for payments in kind, courtrooms and council chambers.