Loch Castle

The cave castle was probably built in the 13th century by the Lords of Rettenberg-Hoheneck, who owned another stronghold nearby with Vilseck Castle. In 1265, a castellan Conradus de Foramine (Loch) is mentioned in a document. From 1315, the small fortress appears in the Tyrolean tax registers; by this year at the latest, the complex must have been in the possession of the Counts of Tyrol. The transfer of ownership probably occurred violently. The background was the dispute between the Lords of Hoheneck or the Counts of Montfort and the Counts of Tyrol over supremacy in the Lechtal valley. The castle keepers at Loch were subordinate to the captains of the nearby Ehrenberg Castle.

In 1328, the Castrum in Loch was besieged again. Possibly the Hoheneckers wanted to reverse the loss of the castle, but the siege seems to have remained unsuccessful. In 1348, the population of the Lechtal valley was placed under the administrator of Ehrenberg. The small cave castle had thus largely become superfluous, and from 1352 onwards, no more castle keepers were appointed. The complex seems to have been abandoned shortly thereafter. The ruin probably served as a fortification again in 1546 against the troops of the Schmalkaldic League, who crossed the state border here near Füssen. The chronicler Martin Burglechner could only report on a ruin of the former cave castle in 1609.