Top 10 Castles around Vilseck

Burgstall Hartenfels The site of the abandoned spur castle is located in the Middle Franconian Jura, on a southwest-facing rocky spur of the Great Hartenfels at 530.6 m above sea level. The castle was probably built during the 13th century by the Lords of Neidstein, but there is no mention of the castle itself. It is only mentioned indirectly in a document dated February 21, 1268, in the name of Heinrich von Hertenvels. In addition to the high medieval fortification on the Hartenfels, there are also the remains of a prehistoric structure at the same location. A long section of the rampart, about half a meter high, has been preserved, which arches around the mountain spur outside the moat of the medieval castle and thus sealed it off. Today, the site of the former castle is completely overgrown with forest, and only two ditches and the remains of the foundation walls of the former ring wall have survived. The former hilltop castle was once divided into two areas, an outer bailey at the transition from the spur to the flat summit area or plateau of the Hartenfels, and a main castle at the rocky tip of the mountain spur, in the best protected place by nature. The outer bailey was protected by a two-meter-deep and about ten-meter-wide moat. The area of the outer bailey is irregularly shaped, as it was adapted to the rocky terrain between the plateau and the rocky spur. As it was easily attacked from the plateau, it had to be protected on its north-east side by a strong wall, of which a 4.50-meter-wide and one-meter-high rampart still remains. Approximately in the middle of this rampart, a 3.80-meter-wide break gives an idea of the former entrance to the castle, and even today you enter the castle grounds at this point. The main castle has a trapezoidal area about 50 meters long and 25 meters wide. On its west and south sides it is well protected by the vertical drop of the rocks by several meters and the steep eastern slope also offered sufficient protection. Only at the northwest corner is a small remnant of a wall still visible above ground. There are no further traces of construction on the flat surface of the main castle, apart from an almost square pit in the middle of the area. This pit measures 4 by 3.50 meters and could be the remains of a cistern or a cellar room. Source: Excerpts from www.wikipedia.de

Very interesting, unfortunately well shielded against entry.

lost place »... The Hammerschloss Röthenbach is a castle in Röthenbach in the Markt Kohlberg (Upper Palatinate) in the Upper Palatinate district of Neustadt an der Waldnaab. The complex is listed as an archaeological monument under file number D-3-6337-0015 in the Bavarian Atlas as "archaeological findings from the Middle Ages and the early modern period in the area of Röthenbach Castle, including traces of previous buildings or older construction phases and the associated iron hammer". It is also listed under the file number D-3-74-131-12 as a listed monument of Röthenbach. ...« via https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hammerschloss_R%C3%B6thenbach

Axtheid Castle Axtheid Castle is a castle in the Axtheid district of the Upper Palatinate town of Vilseck. The castle was the seat of the castle keeper of Burg Dagestein, also the official seat of the Bishop of Bamberg and the seat of the Vilseck caretaker office. The castle estate is first mentioned in the Vilsecker interest book, which was created between 1493 and 1506. The castle was rebuilt at the end of the 16th century. It probably suffered during the Thirty Years' War, so that a partial new building was necessary; the year 1656, carved into the sandstone spindle of the stair tower, bears witness to this. It is a two-storey, plastered solid building (designated "1799") with a half-hipped roof and colored corner pilaster strips. It has a stair tower with a half-timbered floor and a tent roof. The building was redesigned several times, for example in the first half of the 17th century, then again around 1686 and after 1700. The property includes another building, which is colour-coordinated with the castle, and a farm yard. In 1774 the castle became the property of the commoner Johann Georg Grösl (1706-1771); it remained the property of the Grösl family until 1949, which is why the house name “beim Grösl” came about. Anna Maria Grösl married Johann Engelhardt in 1949 and the castle is still in the family. Source: Wikipedia

From the Hartenfels with its summit cross that can be seen from afar, you have a beautiful view of Neukirchen and the surrounding area. To get to the vantage point, you either leave your bike where it is or push it up the stairs, but the view makes up for the effort. Don't forget to enter the summit book 😉.

Röthenbach is a part of the municipality and a district of the market town of Kohlberg in the Upper Palatinate district of Neustadt an der Waldnaab. Röthenbach is four kilometers from the main town of Kohlberg.

A beautiful area with many beautiful impressions

The Hammerschloss Röthenbach is a castle in Röthenbach in the Markt Kohlberg (Upper Palatinate) in the Upper Palatinate district of Neustadt an der Waldnaab.