Bernegg Castle (Ruin) (Calfreisen)

The well-preserved ruin of the fortified palas is situated on a spur at the southeastern edge of the village, separated from the slope by a ditch. The interior of the tower is not accessible.

The tower, built of layered rubble masonry, has a rectangular footprint of approximately 11 by 13 meters. The wall thickness is 2 to 2.4 meters, and still 1.8 meters in the upper floors. The corner stones, some over a meter long and without bosses, are striking. The original tower height of 15 meters has been preserved on the south side.

The division into four floors can be recognized from remnants of the wall plaster. The ground floor is partially filled with rubble and probably served as a cellar. In the second floor, there are isolated narrow loopholes. In the south wall of the third floor was the high entrance at a height of 9.5 meters. The jamb stones of the presumably round-arched door opening are missing.

Next to a narrow loophole, there is a high-set smoke vent in the west wall, presumably for an oven. The sloping course of the current wall crown from south to north is probably the result of natural decay. The original roof shape can no longer be determined; a surrounding battlement is conceivable.

No traces of a curtain wall or ancillary buildings are found. If ancillary buildings existed, they were probably located at the site of the neighboring farmhouses.

Based on structural details, a construction period in the middle or second half of the 13th century can be concluded. Whether Otto von Calfreisen, documented in 1231 – albeit in the very unclear spelling Ottho de Rauaraiscene – already lived in this castle or rather in a predecessor building, is uncertain. However, it remains undisputed that the castle was the seat of the Lords of Calfreisen, who are attested from 1259 to 1286. A document from 1312 mentions the deceased R. quondam dictus de Kafrais. The family belonged to the local nobility of Schanfigg and served the Barons of Vaz and the Diocese of Chur.

The noble Schanfigg family of Underweger succeeded the von Calfreisen, presumably through the marriage of Margareth von Calfreisen, the last of her line. In 1386, Hans von Underwegen is mentioned (...uf myner vesti Cauarayssen...), in 1428 Hans von Vnderwegen, der eltest ze Cauarayssen, sells the Alp Stätz above Lenzerheide to the Churwalden monastery.

In the 15th century, Calfreisen Castle is said to have come into the possession of the Sprecher family, who likely gave it the name "Bernegg". Bernegg is not attested earlier but appears as a surname of the Sprecher family since that time. Whether the castle was still inhabited in the 15th century is uncertain. Around 1550, according to Ulrich Campell, it was already a ruin.