The remains of the Castle can be visited
RuinHelmishofen
Helmishofen Castle (Ruin)
The Helmishofen Castle Ruin is the ruin of a castle built in the 12th century near Helmishofen above the Kaltental valley in Allgäu. The keep and some small wall remnants are still preserved. The tower has been mistakenly referred to as the Roman Tower since the early 19th century. North and south of the fortress, two outworks, preserved as archaeological monuments, flank the castle site.
The castle was built by the Lords of Helmishofen. They were vassals of the Kempten Abbey and held the Vogt and judicial rights in Helmishofen, Aufkirch, Blonhofen, Gerbishofen, and Altensberg. From 1190 to 1335, the lords of the castle are known as members of the Helmishofen family. Adelgolz was succeeded in 1257 by his son Heinrich, in 1262 by his son Heinrich, in 1287 by his son Adelgolz, and in 1332 again by a Heinrich von Helmishofen, who is probably the son of the aforementioned Heinrich.
The castle was unsuccessfully besieged by the Bavarians in 1269, 1270, and 1315. It almost completely burned down after a thunderstorm in 1312 but was immediately rebuilt. From 1335 to 1380, the castle was occupied by an abbey Vogt. The knight Swigger von Mindelberg attacked Helmishofen Castle in 1348. The farmstead was plundered and set on fire. The attacker then had to flee as the Abbot of Kempten was on his way to reinforce the castle lords.
Between 1380 and 1437, the castle was owned by the Lords of Schmiechen. From 1387, Heinrich ruled, followed by Elisabeth from 1398, and in the same year Stephan, from 1412 Jörg, from 1423 Heinrich, and from 1437 Veit von Schmiechen. In 1437, the castle passed into the possession of the Prince-Bishopric of Augsburg and was subsequently occupied by administrators. The first administrator was Stephan von Schwangau in 1444, followed by Konrad von Schellenberg in 1447, Ulrich Burggraf in 1457, Jörg von Villenbach from 1461 to 1464, Lutz von Freyberg from 1467 to 1487, Wolfhart von Knöringen from 1488 to 1508, and Hans von Hirnheim from 1512 to 1518.
During the time of Philipp von Landeck, who was lord of the castle from 1521 to 1540, the German Peasants' War occurred. The castle was plundered by peasants and partially destroyed by fire. Afterwards, the peasants had to pay damages and help rebuild the castle. From 1551 to 1569, Christoph von Bollstadt was appointed as administrator. He was followed by Josef Stor von Ostrach from 1574 to 1581, Sebastian Reiter in 1585, Philipp Renner von Allmendingen in 1587, and Christoph Friedrich von Hohenberg from 1596 to 1609. Edmund Scheler, appointed from 1610 to 1612, moved his seat to Altensberg Castle.
During the Thirty Years' War, the castle was again destroyed and then rebuilt. After another fire in 1792, Helmishofen Castle was not rebuilt. The stones of the buildings were used by local farmers for house construction. Only the keep remained. The castle had considerable importance, especially during the time it was owned by the Bishop of Augsburg. It primarily served to secure trade routes from the south to Swabia.
From 1803, the remains of the castle were Bavarian. The keep was renovated in the mid-19th century by the Historical Society of Swabia and Neuburg. After that, the tower was a popular excursion destination. Helmishofen was then located on the Kaufbeuren–Schongau railway line, which was shut down in 1977. People hiked from the Aufkirch stop to the tower and then had a snack at the inn in Helmishofen.
The renovation of the keep by the Historical Society and especially the restoration by the Kempten State Building Authority from 1975 to 1976 did not meet today's standards. Nevertheless, the tower is still a popular excursion destination today. It is located directly next to the Kaufbeuren–Schongau cycle path. One can climb inside via a partly very steep staircase and from there enjoy a view of the entire Kaltental valley.
In 2011, the municipality of Markt Kaltental bought the keep with the surrounding land from the Free State of Bavaria for the symbolic value of one euro.
The still common designation of the large keep as "Roman Tower" dates back to the early 19th century. At that time, all large High Medieval ashlar towers with bossage were dated to the Roman period. This misinterpretation saved many such monuments from demolition. The historical value of medieval architectural evidence was rarely recognized at that time.
Description+
The Castle Ruin
The fortress is located between Aufkirch and Helmishofen on the eastern edge of the valley. The two-part complex consists of the steep, almost square main castle mound (approx. 20 × 20 meters) and a spacious outer bailey plateau (approx. 30 × 50 meters) to the south.
Main Castle
The core castle is protected by a horseshoe-shaped moat up to eight meters deep. A ramp on the eastern edge of the moat indicates a former footbridge, which probably provided direct access to the main castle here.
Above the southeast corner of the main castle mound stands the mighty keep made of regular Nagelfluh ashlar blocks. To the north are the meager remains of the curtain wall, in the middle of which the gate, accessible from the footbridge, was probably located (wall gap). The northwest part of the plateau is heavily fissured. The palas, whose masonry was completely removed, formerly stood here.
The square keep is still approximately 20 meters high. Above a largely buried basement (about six meters deep) are four more floors, sparsely lit by narrow slits in the south wall. Under the current concrete ceiling of the upper floor, the beginnings of a vault have been preserved. A narrow staircase in the south wall allows ascent to the viewing platform. Originally, the tower was topped by a battlement. During the renovation of 1975/76, mortar was generously applied to the edges of the bossage ashlar cladding, so that the wall surfaces now appear unhistorically smooth.
The keep strongly resembles the main tower of Kemnat Castle near Kaufbeuren in size and conception. The obligatory elevated entrance is about five meters above the castle courtyard in the north wall. The ground-level access below was only broken through later.
Outer Bailey
Unusual are the dimensions of the approximately 25-meter-wide neck ditch around the main castle. The rectangular outer bailey area, however, is separated from the ridge only by a narrow and moderately deep ditch. To the east, an approximately 35-meter-long rampart is visible on the plateau. The rampart slopes outwards about two and a half to four meters to the bottom of the ditch. Further unevenness in the ground indicates probable stone interior buildings.
To the west, a wide hillside terrace with rampart remains is located in front of the entire complex. The plateaus of the main and outer bailey are accessible from this terrace via short ascents.
Outworks
Approximately 250 meters north and south of the castle, the remains of two High Medieval motte-and-bailey castles are visible in the terrain. These could have been the seats of sub-vassals of the Lords of Helmishofen. Such small "satellite castles" can often be found in the vicinity of larger medieval castle complexes. Wealthy ministerial families often created their own retinues who tried to adopt the knightly lifestyle of their lords.
The two small castles could also have been originally built to protect the construction site. They were probably abandoned in the High Middle Ages.
The southern outwork is particularly well preserved. The small fortress shows the typical two-part layout of High Medieval castles. A semicircular neck ditch, about two meters deep, cuts the cone of the main castle from the hillside edge. On the steep western slope, the ditch continues as a berm or buried hillside ditch. On the plateau of the motte, an angular depression indicates the location of a building. No remains of walls or bricks are visible anywhere. To the south, a spacious outer bailey adjoins. The outer rampart of the outer bailey is only about one meter high, the ditch in front of it still up to half a meter deep. The State Office for Monument Preservation lists the archaeological monument as a section rampart of unknown age, but according to typological features, it should be a High Medieval noble seat. The short inventory of 1960 still lists the object as a motte.
Approximately 300 meters east of the northern outwork are the earthworks of another medieval noble seat on the high plateau.
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Source: Wikipedia · Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0
This description draws on the facts documented in the linked Wikipedia article; Wikipedia content is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Wording and editing: Mobile History.
Location: 47.9008, 10.7522