Former Bühringen Castle (Burg Bühringen)

Architecture, patrimoine et histoire · Landkreis Göppingen

The vanished castle of Bühringen stood on the Burghalde, a rocky spur about 701 metres high overlooking the confluence of the Rötelbach and the Fils, near Bad Überkingen in the district of Göppingen. The Counts of Helfenstein had it built around 1250 to house their ministeriales. In 1363, Hans von Obenhausen sold the castle to Count Ulrich von Helfenstein, and his widow Maria, Duchess of Bosnia, made it her retirement residence. The Imperial City of Ulm then acquired the site in 1403 and installed a bailiff there. Burned during the German Peasants' War in 1525, the castle was subsequently almost entirely dismantled by inhabitants of Türkheim. This spur castle was protected on the valley side by steep rock faces; on the plateau side, three ditches and two earth banks remain clearly visible, and the neck ditch reveals the foundations of the outer enceinte. Two buildings probably stood on the site, and a keep may have existed on a small spur isolated by a ditch. Only these earthworks and foundations survive today.