The remains of the Castle can be visited
RuinDurach
Neuenburg Castle (Ruin)
The ruin of Neuenburg Castle lies on a wooded hill spur southeast of Durach in the Oberallgäu district in Bavarian Swabia. In addition to the renovated remains of the keep, some other wall remnants have been preserved.
The castle was built after 1300 as the seat of a branch of the Lords of Sulzberg. The family had split into two lines around 1300. The main line continued to reside at the nearby Sulzberg Castle.
The fortress replaced an older ministerialis castle ("Alte Burg") of Kempten Abbey and was called "new castle" or "Neusulzberg". Older sources even localized a Roman burgus on the spur of the site.
In 1380, Konrad Schenk von Sulzberg zu Neuenburg, the last male scion of the Neuenburg line, died. The castle subsequently passed to the Lords of Schellenberg, who were related to the Sulzbergs.
In 1408, Kempten Abbey appointed a bailiff to the castle, who was directly subordinate to the Prince-Abbot.
In 1421, the Schellenbergs sold their fief to the abbey. The sale was confirmed by Emperor Sigismund in 1436.
In 1455, a penal and correctional institution was installed in the fortress. During the German Peasants' War in 1525, some ringleaders of the rebels are said to have been imprisoned and tortured at Neuenburg.
In 1546, troops of the Schmalkaldic League occupied the castle. Two years later, women and children from the surrounding area fled to Neuenburg to escape the hostilities. In 1552, a troop of horsemen from the North German princes conquered the complex after the castle bailiff had refused to surrender. After the withdrawal of the enemy soldiers, the fortress was repaired again.
The last bailiff left the mountain castle above the Durach in 1642. The castle was abandoned and exploited as a quarry.
Around 1893, a farmer blew up the large keep to obtain further building material. In 1992, during archaeological excavations in preparation for planned renovation measures, the former blasting tunnel was discovered at a depth of about two meters.
In 1993 and 1999, the municipality of Durach secured the ruin of the keep. However, the remaining wall remnants are still severely endangered.
Description+
The castle was built on a high hill spur above a loop of the Durach river. The river protects the fortress on three sides. To the north, two neck ditches with an intermediate rampart cut off the castle site from the ridge. The outer, very deep ditch was obviously created by reworking a natural erosion gully.
To the east, the narrow castle path leads to the ruined remains of a tower or gate security and along the main castle cone to the rectangular outer bailey. In the southwest corner of this plateau, rubble walls and wall remnants mark the location of an approximately square building (approx. 16 x 18 m). The slopes fall very steeply into the Durach valley to the north and south. The less steep southwest side of the castle hill is secured by two short transverse ditches. Here, a marked path allows ascent from the Durach gorge. In the valley, a comfortable hiking trail leads through the river loop. It is marked "Wasserweg" (Water Path) and equipped with numerous information boards.
The main castle cone, projecting to the west in the north of the outer bailey, is still surrounded by some remains of the curtain wall. In the southwest corner, the foundations of a semicircular projecting shell tower are visible.
Slightly elevated in the northeast corner, the stump of the keep (approx. 9.8 x 9.4 m), up to six meters high, still stands upright. The original high entrance has been preserved walled up in the west wall. A stone memorial plaque is also embedded here, which was installed in 1926 on the initiative of Kempten's mayor and passionate castle researcher Otto Merkt.
The north and east walls of the large tower have completely disappeared due to the blasting around 1893. The wall thickness of the tower, built of rubble stone, is about two meters.
To the west, a long stretch of wall, still over three meters high in the west, adjoins the keep, in front of which the curtain wall was formerly located like a zwinger.
While the wall structure of the keep was carefully secured by the municipality at the end of the 20th century, the other ruin remnants are largely in a desolate state. About 400 m northeast of the castle, a farm reminds of the location of the castle's former farm or economic courtyard.
Take Mobile History with you
You are reading this text for free. Premium adds what matters on the road: descriptions read aloud, sites found through your camera, whole regions taken offline.
- Every description, including the ~17,700 Premium sites
- Audio guide: have descriptions read to you on location
- AR finder: see sites through your camera, with distance and bearing
- Unlimited saved sites
14 days free, then from €2.99 a month. Cancel anytime.
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: 47.6919, 10.3618