Hoheneybach Castle

Architecture, patrimoine et histoire · Landkreis Göppingen

Hoheneybach Castle was a fortified castle perched on the Himmelsfelsen, a rocky spur overlooking the village of Eybach at an altitude of 602 metres, within the territory of Geislingen an der Steige in the Swabian Jura. The site is mentioned indirectly in 1265 and 1281 through the lords of Eybach, probably ministeriales of the Counts of Helfenstein. In 1291 these counts sold the "castrum Iwach" to Ellwangen Abbey, which granted it as a fief: Konrad von Ahelfingen received it in 1317, followed by his son Ulrich, who adopted the name Hoheneybach. The fief then passed to the Randeck family and later to the Zillenhart family, confirmed in 1412. From 1456 the castle became the seat of the Degenfeld family, who in the mid-16th century had a more comfortable residence built at the foot of the rock. Ruined during the Thirty Years' War, it may still have been inhabited around 1711, but by 1724 it was nothing more than a ruin. Traces remain on the ground, along with sections of wall bearing remnants of tuff facing and an impressive 13-metre-deep ditch cutting across the spur.