Blankenhorn Castle ruins

Architecture, patrimoine et histoire · Allemagne entière

On the edge of the Swabian Jura plateau near Sirchingen, at about 650 metres above the Erms valley, lies the site of Blankenhorn Castle, within the town of Bad Urach. This small spur castle faces the remains of Baldeck and stands south of the Hohenwittlingen ruin, in an area once bristling with fortresses. It is thought to have been built in the 12th century by the Lords of Blankenhorn, a family whose membership of the local nobility remains uncertain. Its defence relied on a ditch cut across the spur and on a shield wall facing the plateau. Time has erased almost everything: the neck ditch is still clearly visible, along with a few remains of masonry buried in a mound of rubble. The site can be discovered on a hiking loop of about five kilometres starting from Sirchingen, which also passes the Sirchingen waterfall, a pleasant combination of nature and medieval history.