Hallermund Castle

The castle was located on the steep, conical hilltop of the Hallermundskopf, 218 m above sea level. It is advanced from the east side of the Kleiner Deister. The castle grounds are within Saupark Springe, about 500 m as the crow flies south of Jagdschloss Springe, where the main entrance is located. Today, one of the hiking trails in Saupark leads up to the castle site, becoming a narrow and steep path in the last few meters. Due to the winding paths, the distance from Jagdschloss is about 1.2 km.

The castle was the center of the small County of Hallermund. It was only inhabited by the counts for a short time, as they resided in Springe. The first documented mention of the complex was in 1189, when Ludolf and Wilbrand von Hallermund pledged the castle to Bishop Adelog of Hildesheim. Due to disputes with the Welfs, the Counts of Hallermund increasingly lost influence and importance in the 13th and 14th centuries. In 1282, they pledged the castle to the Welfs, to whom all their privileges passed in 1411. The Hallermunds thus lost the castle, but until the extinction of their lineage in 1436, they owned large estates in the area. In 1386, the Welfs appointed the Counts of Spiegelberg as pledgees of the castle. Count Moritz von Spiegelberg was not always loyal to his pledgees and converted the fortification into a robber baron's castle. The Welfs, through Duke Heinrich the Elder of Braunschweig, put an end to this activity in the Spiegelberg Feud of 1434/35 on behalf of the surrounding cities of Hanover, Hildesheim, Pattensen, and Münder. They razed the castle, which was never rebuilt thereafter.

The castle stood on the oval plateau of the hilltop, measuring 50 x 30 m. The appearance and structure of the castle are not pictorially preserved, which is due to its early and complete destruction in 1435. From 1243, a castle chapel on the castle is documented. In addition to its defensive structures, probably a curtain wall and a keep, the castle is said to have had a forge and residential buildings.

Structural remains are only present as loose stones, pieces of roof tiles, and wall remnants. At the edge of the plateau, larger earth holes indicate collapsed cellars of former buildings. Foundation remains on a steep edge are likely to have been a tower or another building. Immediately below the hilltop, the castle complex is surrounded by a moat with an outer rampart. The castle plateau is now densely overgrown with young deciduous trees and therefore only accessible via a path. Approximately 300 m east of the castle complex was a smaller outpost, which today consists only of rampart remains.

About 200 m below the castle lies the Eselsteich (Donkey Pond), which was dammed from the Eselsbach (Donkey Stream). The stream and pond probably served for the castle's water supply and fish farming. Finds attributable to the castle users were already made at the pond during archaeological excavations in 1820. These included horseshoes, wall remains, bones, pottery, iron pieces, and silver and gold jewelry. After a renovation in 2007, the pond is now (2012) refilled.