Hattenheim Castle

Hattenheim Castle is the ruin of a castle near Eltville am Rhein in the center of the village of Hattenheim, a district of Eltville, in the Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis.

It can be assumed that before the construction of the residential tower, the castle consisted of a smaller fortified complex and that the castle was founded around 1118. The castle was probably surrounded by a moated ditch, which the nearby Leimenbach stream may have served to irrigate.

The original owners were the "Nobles of Hattenheim". It was only with the transfer of the castle into the ownership of the Barons Langwerth von Simmern in 1411 that we enter solid ground regarding the ownership and further development of the castle. For around 300 years, Hattenheim Castle served the Barons Langwerth von Simmern as their residence and ancestral seat. In 1711, the family moved into the Stockheimer Hof in Eltville. In the following centuries, the entire castle complex was left to decay. In popular parlance, it was no longer referred to as the castle but disrespectfully as the "Bau" (building).

In 1979, the Burg- und Verschönerungsverein Hattenheim e. V. (Castle and Beautification Association Hattenheim) took over responsibility under a hereditary building right. The Barons Langwerth von Simmern remain the owners of the castle to this day.