Beerfurther Schlösschen

En un regard

Le château en bref

On a spur overlooking the Gersprenz valley, at an altitude of 363 m above Beerfurth, a district of Reichelsheim in the Odenwaldkreis, the "Beerfurther Schlösschen" is a medieval tower castle whose history is not recorded in any early document. Only the ground tells its story: a square central tower measuring about 14 m on each side, with 2 m thick walls, was surrounded by a curtain wall of small masonry, 5 m from the tower on three sides and 10 m on the west, while a neck ditch, backed by a second, almost filled-in ditch, isolated the site on the east side along with an outer bailey. Three parallel lines of walls and ditches run down towards the valley. The first mention dates only from 1740, when the inhabitants of Beerfurth took stones from it to build their school despite a ban by the Erbach government. Excavated in 1887 by Eduard Anthes, the site yielded so few finds that the castle is thought to have been left unfinished; it may have preceded Reichenberg Castle, built around 1200, and may have been the work of the lords of Crumbach. A waymarked trail leads to it from Beerfurth.