Steinbach Castle

The castle ruin Steinbach is located in the eponymous district of the municipality Niederwaldkirchen in the district of Rohrbach in Upper Austria.

The first mention occurred in 1278 with Otto von Steinpekch, who is considered the progenitor of a family that existed for over 250 years. Duke Albrecht III granted Heinrich Steinpkch the following fiefs: Steinbach, Uttendorf, Lasserdorf, Pruhof, Rodlmühle, and Kitzmühle. From 1455 to 1459, Siegmund Steinpekch was the owner. In 1503, Christoph Steinpekch's daughter, Magdalena, sold the property to the brothers Wolf and Georg von Bergheim (Perkheimer). They were followed in 1524 by Kaspar von Schallenberg, who shortly thereafter sold the castle to Niklas Rabenhaupt. In 1535, Christoph Höritzer bought this castle.

At the end of the 16th century, Jodok Schmidtauer acquired the lordship of Steinbach from Achatz Höritzer. The next owner to be mentioned is Johann Adam von Hoheneck, who held Steinbach until 1657. He was followed by Seifrit Hager from St. Veit Castle in Mühlkreis. In 1696, he sold Steinbach to Count Georg Ehrenreich von Spiller. Steinbach remained with this family for the next 100 years. Towards the end of the 18th century, Steinbach was then sold to the Peßler family. In 1816, Gabriele Peßler sold the already decaying castle to a farmer. The lands belonging to the castle had already been sold by her beforehand.