Burgstall Schlosshügel
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The Burgstall of Schlosshügel near
Weidenberg Weidenberg is a municipality in the district of Bayreuth in Bavaria in Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps ...
is a lost
hill castle A hill castle or mountain castle is a castle built on a natural feature that stands above the surrounding terrain. It is a term derived from the German ''Höhenburg'' used in categorising castle sites by their topographical location. Hill castles a ...
or
circular rampart A circular rampart () is an embankment built in the shape of a circle that was used as part of the defences for a military fortification, hill fort or refuge, or was built for religious purposes or as a place of gathering. The period during which ...
site of the type known as a
motte A motte-and-bailey castle is a European fortification with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised area of ground called a motte, accompanied by a walled courtyard, or Bailey (castle), bailey, surrounded by a protective Rampart (fortificati ...
from the
Early Middle Ages The Early Middle Ages (or early medieval period), sometimes controversially referred to as the Dark Ages (historiography), Dark Ages, is typically regarded by historians as lasting from the late 5th to the 10th century. They marked the start o ...
. It lies on the southern perimeter of the
Fichtel Mountains The Fichtel Mountains (, ; ) is a mountain range in Germany and the Czech Republic. They extend from the valley of the Red Main River in northeastern Bavaria to the Karlovy Vary Region in western Czech Republic. The Fichtel Mountains contain an ...
at a height of 699 metres above
sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an mean, average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal Body of water, bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical ...
(NN) above the village of Sophienthal, which is part of the market borough of Weidenberg in the
Upper Franconia Upper Franconia (, ) is a (administrative 'Regierungs''region 'bezirk'' of the state of Bavaria, southern Germany. It forms part of the historically significant region of Franconia, the others being Middle Franconia and Lower Franconia, wh ...
county of
Bayreuth Bayreuth ( or ; High Franconian German, Upper Franconian: Bareid, ) is a Town#Germany, town in northern Bavaria, Germany, on the Red Main river in a valley between the Franconian Jura and the Fichtel Mountains. The town's roots date back to 11 ...
in
Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...
. The ''
burgstall A ''burgstall'' is a German term referring to a castle of which so little is left that its appearance cannot effectively be reconstructed.
'' or lost castle site was partly investigated by means of an archaeological
test excavation Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film) ...
and was also mapped several times in the past.


History

No records of the castle site have been found and nor is its name known. It could be the fortress listed as ''"Gurtstein mitsamt dem Walde"'' ("Gurtstein including the woods") mentioned from 1412 in deeds of enfeoffment.Joachim Kröll: ''Die Geschichte des Marktes Weidenberg.'' 1967, p. 52 What is known is that a tower was built on strategically favourable high ground in order to observe the surrounding area with line-of-sight visibility to other signal or beacon hills in the Weidenberg valley, in the upper Steinach valley and in the northern part of the
Upper Palatinate The Upper Palatinate (; , , ) is an administrative district in the east of Bavaria, Germany. It consists of seven districts and 226 municipalities, including three cities. Geography The Upper Palatinate is a landscape with low mountains and nume ...
(with its large castle on the
Rauher Kulm The Rauher Kulm is a small basalt mountain located in the Upper Palatinate (Oberpfalz) region of the state of Bavaria, Germany. It is located 23 kilometers southeast of Bayreuth and 5 kilometers south of Kemnath. The town of Neustadt am Kulm is ...
). Over the course of time this motte tower was expanded to form an enclosure with a
circular rampart A circular rampart () is an embankment built in the shape of a circle that was used as part of the defences for a military fortification, hill fort or refuge, or was built for religious purposes or as a place of gathering. The period during which ...
. The local historian, Joachim Kröll, wrote about it thus:


Role and use

The castle originally acted as a motte castle to monitor and guard the
historic road Historic roads (or historic trails in the US and Canada) are paths or routes that have historical importance due to their use over a period of time. Examples exist from prehistoric times until the early 20th century. They include ancient track ...
s and to serve as a base for military
escorts Escort may refer to: Protection *Bodyguard, a security operative who accompanies clients for their personal protection * Police escort, a feature offered by law enforcement agencies to assist in transporting individuals * Safety escort service, ...
. It also probably fulfilled the function of a border fortress in this Franconian-Bavarian border region. For that it was extended with the construction of several defensive ramparts, in order to create room for troops to be quartered. Traces of these outer ramparts are still visible. The provision of these troops could have come from the
hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...
of Neuhaus, to which a water ditch was laid from the area of the Kreuzstein which has survived into the present day. Because of its location the castle could have been the administrative base mentioned in the records as ''Gurtstein mitsamt dem Walde'' and been used to support the royal forestry industry and medieval
iron ore Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the f ...
extraction,
smelting Smelting is a process of applying heat and a chemical reducing agent to an ore to extract a desired base metal product. It is a form of extractive metallurgy that is used to obtain many metals such as iron-making, iron, copper extraction, copper ...
and processing in the Steinach valley, which was later moved to Weidenberg. The
charcoal Charcoal is a lightweight black carbon residue produced by strongly heating wood (or other animal and plant materials) in minimal oxygen to remove all water and volatile constituents. In the traditional version of this pyrolysis process, ca ...
needed for the production of iron was produced in the densely forested Fichtel Mountains in charcoal piles. A so-called
bloomery A bloomery is a type of metallurgical furnace once used widely for smelting iron from its iron oxides, oxides. The bloomery was the earliest form of smelter capable of smelting iron. Bloomeries produce a porous mass of iron and slag called ...
to extract
pig iron Pig iron, also known as crude iron, is an intermediate good used by the iron industry in the production of steel. It is developed by smelting iron ore in a blast furnace. Pig iron has a high carbon content, typically 3.8–4.7%, along with si ...
was found in the area of the present day Sophienthal. The processing of this iron was carried out in iron
hammer mill A hammer mill, hammer forge or hammer works was a workshop in the pre-industrial era that was typically used to manufacture semi-finished, wrought iron products or, sometimes, finished agricultural or mining tools, or military weapons. The featur ...
s on the
Warme Steinach Warme Steinach is a river of Bavaria, Germany. It flows into the Red Main east of Bayreuth. See also *List of rivers of Bavaria A list of rivers of Bavaria, Germany: A * Aalbach * Abens * Ach * Afferbach * Affinger Bach * Ailsbach * Aisch * A ...
.


Description of the site

The site consists of an oval-shaped, central mound measuring 30×40 metres, which is surrounded by a 6 to 10 metre wide, outer rampart with a
ditch A ditch is a small to moderate trench created to channel water. A ditch can be used for drainage, to drain water from low-lying areas, alongside roadways or fields, or to channel water from a more distant source for plant irrigation. Ditches ...
. On the uphill side there are two more rows of ramparts and ditches. This system forms two separate areas within the defensive ramparts whose common entrance lay on the west side. In the upper, inner area stood the tower. The whole site covers an area of 200×90 metres. The earth ramparts could, have been made even higher by the use of rows of
palisade A palisade, sometimes called a stakewall or a paling, is typically a row of closely placed, high vertical standing tree trunks or wooden or iron stakes used as a fence for enclosure or as a defensive wall. Palisades can form a stockade. Etymo ...
s filled with loose rock, as was then usual. In the inner area there is a pit, where excavations were conducted by the History Society of Upper Franconia (Historischer Verein für Oberfranken) in 1888/89. At a depth of 3 metres on the rocky base they came across a staircase of eight steps hewn out of the
mica schist Schist ( ) is a medium-grained metamorphic rock generally derived from fine-grained sedimentary rock, like shale. It shows pronounced ''schistosity'' (named for the rock). This means that the rock is composed of mineral grains easily seen with a l ...
. This may have been the site of the tower. In the inner and northern external area there were probably domestic buildings. These buildings and the tower were made of wood. The size of the site suggest it had pan-regional significance. It lay on a wooded, domed hilltop whose view into the Weidenberg valley is obscured today, Weidenberger Tal, in the northern Upper Palatinate (
Rauher Kulm The Rauher Kulm is a small basalt mountain located in the Upper Palatinate (Oberpfalz) region of the state of Bavaria, Germany. It is located 23 kilometers southeast of Bayreuth and 5 kilometers south of Kemnath. The town of Neustadt am Kulm is ...
) and to the Bocksleite opposite, a hill ridge over which a trade and military road ran in the late 8th and 9th centuries. This ran from
Bamberg Bamberg (, , ; East Franconian German, East Franconian: ''Bambärch'') is a town in Upper Franconia district in Bavaria, Germany, on the river Regnitz close to its confluence with the river Main (river), Main. Bamberg had 79,000 inhabitants in ...
and the Upper Mainland into the
Egerland The Egerland (; ; Egerland German dialect: ''Eghalånd'') is a historical region in the far north west of Bohemia in what is today the Czech Republic, at the border with Germany. It is named after the German name ''Eger'' for the town of Cheb an ...
. Other historic roads ran from north to south into the interior of the
Fichtel Mountains The Fichtel Mountains (, ; ) is a mountain range in Germany and the Czech Republic. They extend from the valley of the Red Main River in northeastern Bavaria to the Karlovy Vary Region in western Czech Republic. The Fichtel Mountains contain an ...
and from east to west towards
Eger Eger ( , ; ; also known by other #Names and etymology, alternative names) is the county seat of Heves County, and the second largest city in Northern Hungary (after Miskolc). A city with county rights, Eger is best known for Castle of Eger, its ...
(now Cheb). In the archives of the History Society of Upper Franconia were several finds from
test excavation Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film) ...
s on the Schlosshügel in the years 1846 and 1888/89. Amongst the artefacts found were shards of earthenware jars decorated with wavy lines, coal, bones and iron objects. The associate professor (''Privatdozent'') at the University of Bamberg, Hans Losert, published photographs of pieces of pottery that had been found on the Schlosshügel.


Illustrations of the ground plan

The first sketch of the ''
burgstall A ''burgstall'' is a German term referring to a castle of which so little is left that its appearance cannot effectively be reconstructed.
'' was made by Johann Christoph Stierlein in 1791 and is now held in the Bavarian State Library at
Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...
(''Bayerischen Staatsbibliothek München''). There are also location sketches by Erich von Guttenberg from 1921 and Joachim Kröll from 1966 in his book ''Geschichte des Marktes Weidenberg'' ("History of the Market Town of Weidenberg"). A geodetic survey of the site was carried out in 1989 by Hermann Kerscher of the Bavarian State Office for Heritage Conservation (''Bayerisches Landesamt für Denkmalpflege''). In his work on heritage site surveys Hermann Kerscher compares the 1791 drawing of the circular rampart by Stierlein with the modern survey of 1989. The ''burgstall'' of Schlosshügel was described by Bavarian State Office for Heritage Conservation as a "medieval ''burgstall''" and as a
heritage site A historic site or heritage site is an official location where pieces of political, military, cultural, or social history have been preserved due to their cultural heritage value. Historic sites are usually protected by law, and many have been rec ...
with the index no. 171622 and document no. D-4-6036-0002.


Viewing the site

Access to the castle site is possible on foot and by bicycle. There is a suitable hikers' car park, the ''Wanderparkplatz Sophienthal'', on Sophienthal Circular Walk 5 by the Weidenberg Branch of the Fichtelgebirge Club.Route des Wegenetzes
(pdf; 502 kB)
After 3 kilometres the route reaches the abandoned settlement of Neuhaus. This is a ruined
hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...
, which formerly had five farmhouses, set in a secluded forest clearing. Today the only building left is one used by the forestry commission. At the information board on the circular path, a
waymark Trail blazing or way marking is the practice of marking paths in outdoor recreational areas with signs or markings that follow each other at certain, though not necessarily exactly defined, distances and mark the direction of the trail. A blaz ...
ed path branches off and runs for about 500 metres southwards following the contours to the ''burgstall'' on the left of the path. From Neuhaus the nearby ruins of Wurzstein Castle can also be visited on a direct route over the so-called ''Rosssteig'' path. In addition there is another path to the abandoned hamlet of Sonnengrün. Under the title ''Mittelalter im Steinachtal'' ("Middle Ages in the Steinach Valley") the Association of the
Fichtel Mountain Nature Park The Fichtel Mountain Nature Park () lies in the tri-border area of Saxony, the Czech Republic and Bavaria and has an area of . It is maintained by the ''Naturpark Fichtelgebirge e. V.'' in Wunsiedel. Landscape The Fichtel Mountains, with th ...
have erected information boards at the car park (''Wanderparkplatz Sophienthal''), in Neuhaus and on the Schlosshügel hill itself.


Gallery

Infotafel Schlosshügel.JPG, Information board at the ''burgstall'' Burgstall Schlosshügel02.jpg, Area of the entrance on the western side of the site


References


Literature

* Historischer Verein für Oberfranken: ''Jahresbericht der Jahre 1846/47; Beschreibung einer Begehung der Ringwallanlage am Schlosshügel durch eine Kommission des Vereins im Jahre 1843''. * Joachim Kröll: ''Geschichte des Marktes Weidenberg''. Verlag Marktgemeinde Weidenberg, Gesamtherstellung Julius Steeger & Co. GmbH, Bayreuth, 1967. * Hermann Kerscher (Landesamt für Denkmalpflege): ''Zweihundert Jahre topografische Denkmalvermessung in Bayern''. Anmerkungen zu frühen archäologisch-topographischen Plänen des Ruinenkartographen Johann Christoph Stierlein, Archäologisches Jahr Bayern, Stuttgart, 1989. * Rüdiger Bauriedel, Ruprecht Konrad-Röder: ''Mittelalterliche Befestigungen und niederadelige Ansitze im Landkreis Bayreuth''. Ellwanger Druck und Verlag, Bayreuth, 2007, , pp. 98 and 104. * Werner Schamel: ''Geheimnisse des Schlosshügels'', In: "Seinerzeit…". Heimatkundliche Serie im Amtlichen Mitteilungsblatt der Verwaltungsgemeinschaft Weidenberg Nummer 14, 30 September 2008. {{DEFAULTSORT:Burgstall Schlosshugel Schlosshugel, Burgstall Schlosshugel, Burgstall Heritage sites in Bavaria Archaeological sites in Germany Bayreuth (district)