Vörbach Castle

The Vörbach ruin is a ridge castle near the municipality of Pfalzgrafenweiler in the district of Freudenstadt in Baden-Württemberg, overlooking the Waldach valley. Remains of the keep, the shield wall, and a flanking tower are preserved from the castle.

The castle was first mentioned in a document in 1140 as property of the Palatine Counts of Tübingen. The brothers Albrecht and Diem von Steinhilben were named as the first owners in 1330. Their father Dietrich von Steinhilben likely received the castle as a fief from the Palatine Count. In 1360, Vörbach was sold by Count Burkhard to Palatine Count Ruprecht I of the Palatinate. The complex was sold by Count Otto I in 1440 to Counts Ludwig I and Ulrich of Württemberg. Until 1483, the fief was granted to the Lords of Emershofen. They sold Vörbach for 1,800 guilders to the Lords of Ehingen. In 1485, Jörg von Ehingen was enfeoffed with Vörbach by Count Eberhard im Bart. Rudolf von Ehingen sold the castle, among other things, in 1498 to Hans von Neuneck zu Glatt. Wildhans von Neuneck sold the Vörbach castle estate in 1625 for 70,000 guilders to the Duke of Württemberg.

After the great city fire on April 24, 1798, the stones were used to rebuild the town. In 1906, the Nördlinger Hütte, named after a founding member, was built by the Schwarzwaldverein on a tower stump of the curtain wall as a resting and refuge hut. It was last renovated in 1990 and is now used as the club house of the Schwarzwaldverein Pfalzgrafenweiler.