Former Erkenberg Castle

Architecture, patrimoine et histoire · Allemagne entière

Above Neidlingen, in the district of Esslingen, the Erkenberg promontory juts out into the Lindach valley at the foot of the Swabian Jura escarpment. On this summit, rising to almost 743 metres, once stood Merkenberg Castle, also called Erkenberg on maps and in guidebooks. Probably founded around 1200 by Count Egino of Aichelberg, it appears in the records in 1247 with the brothers Diepold and Ulrich of Merckenberg. Historians believe it was probably never completed and that its buildings were mainly half-timbered, which explains why no masonry survives. A small secondary castle, Windeck, was associated with it. After passing to Württemberg between 1334 and 1339, the stronghold was abandoned and by 1535 was no more than a castle site. Today hikers find an oval plateau of about 68 by 13 metres, still enclosed on three sides by a remarkable system of ditches and earth ramparts, including an eastern ditch some 160 metres long.