Castle fountain

Fountain at Königstein Fortress (152 meters deep)

Cross-section through the Königstein Fortress with the castle fountain

A castle well or fortress fountain was often the terms of both time it was built and the construction costs consuming phase of construction of a castle or fortress . Its construction could sometimes take several decades.

In addition to cisterns  , the well served as a safe source of drinking water both in times of peace and in times of siege for the castle garrison and, if necessary, for civilians seeking protection there in times of war . Even in the event of a siege, it could not be poisoned “from the outside” ( well poisoning, for example from rotting cadavers, was an often used means in the Middle Ages to force a castle garrison to give up).

Depending on the height of the castle above the groundwater level, especially in the case of hilltop castles , there was often a considerable difference in height to be overcome in order to reach the next geological layer with sufficient water. In addition, the problem arose during the well construction of supplying the workers who were driving the well by hand into the rock with sufficient oxygen.

Way of erection

In order to supply the well builders with fresh air, a mostly wooden partition wall was often built in the middle of the well shaft almost to the bottom, the cracks of which were sealed with straw and pitch to make them airtight. A fireplace was then built over one half, which received its air supply through the resulting U-shaped chimney in the shaft, and thus caused a continuous flow of fresh air through the shaft bottom.

List of very deep castle wells

Germany has some of the deepest castle wells in the world. You can find them on the Reichsburg Kyffhausen (176 meters deep), the Königstein Fortress (152 meters deep) and the Hohenburg in Homberg (150 meters deep).

According to historical sources, a castle well with a depth of 197 meters is said to have been located at Regenstein Castle near Blankenburg . This has been buried for a long time.

Depth in m	Castle	country	region	rock	comment
197	Regenstein Castle	Germany	Saxony-Anhalt		The well is completely buried.
176	Kyffhausen Castle	Germany	Thuringia	Sandstone	The well was buried for a long time. It was exposed from 1934 to 1936. The diameter is 2 m. Leachate from the surrounding rock keeps the water level at a constant 9 m.
163	Zbiroh Castle	Czech Republic	Pilsen region		During the research in 2006, a double floor made of reinforced concrete was found at the bottom of the castle well; one suspected a Nazi treasure among them.
152.5	Koenigstein Fortress	Germany	Saxony	Sandstone	It is the deepest castle well in Saxony.
150	Hohenburg in Homberg	Germany	Hesse	basalt	This is the deepest, completely bricked well; it was exposed from 1997 to 2001.
150	Hukvaldy Castle	Czech Republic	Moravian-Silesian Region		Not until 1581 was it possible to drill a castle well inside the castle, which was 150 meters deep and equipped with a bucket wheel operated by human power. In 1738 the device burned down, which initiated the decline of the castle.
147	Château de Joux	France	Franche-Comté		The fountain was built by Vauban in 1690 with a diameter of 3.70 meters and a depth of 147 m. Today the depth is only 120 m.
143.2	Wülzburg	Germany	Bavaria		The fountain has a diameter of 2.5 meters.
142	Forchtenstein Castle	Austria	Burgenland
140	Peasant castle in Râşnov	Romania	Transylvania
136.5	Seebenstein Castle	Austria	Lower Austria		The castle well is said to have a depth of 78 fathoms (corresponds to 136.5 meters). Halfway down there is a connecting passage to the inner castle, through which the water supply could be guaranteed even if the outer castle was occupied by the enemy.
132	Besançon Citadel	France	Franche-Comté
130.6	Augustusburg hunting lodge	Germany	Saxony	porphyry	This is the second deepest castle well in Saxony.
129	Harburg Castle	Germany	Bavaria		Today it is only around 50 meters deep, as the tunnel of federal highway 25 runs directly under the castle.
126	Spangenberg Castle	Germany	Hesse
120	Neuhaus Castle (Igersheim)	Germany	Baden-Württemberg		The well was probably 120 meters deep and is now partially buried.
120	Waldeck Castle	Germany	Hesse		The well is about 120 m deep.
114	Veste Heldburg	Germany	Thuringia		Created in the 1560s under the direction of Nikolaus Gromann. The well shaft is carved into the rock and clad with neatly hewn sandstones.
113	Beeston Castle	Great Britain			The depth is given as 400 feet .
112	Špilberk fortress	Czech Republic			The upper part of the well is made of natural stone and bricks, while the lower part consists only of rocks. The average diameter is 3.5 m. The water level is 90 m, so that the volume is over 1,000 m³. At the bottom of the well there are two horizontal tunnels 17 m and 26 m long.
107	Dover Castle	Great Britain			The depth is stated to be 350 feet .
105	Marienberg Fortress	Germany	Bavaria	limestone
104	Berwartstein Castle	Germany	Rhineland-Palatinate	Sandstone
103	Homburg	Germany	Lower Saxony		The depth is not known. The well has been buried and only a few meters have been exposed. In 1736, the Amelungsborn monastery student, Johann Christian Dünnhaupt, claims not to have reached the bottom of the fountain with a 60 fathom (103 meter) long thread weighted with a lead ball.
100	Deppoldshausen Vorwerk at Plesse Castle	Germany	Lower Saxony		In 1937 the well was deepened from 100 to 130 m.
100	Ravensberg Castle	Germany	North Rhine-Westphalia		The well house with the functional, old conveyor wheel and the completely illuminated castle well can be visited and water can be pumped through the visitors.
98	Marburg Castle	Germany	Hesse		The well was exposed in 2011/2012.
98	Rhoden Castle	Germany	Hesse		In 1651 a castle well 160 cubits (approx. 98 meters) deep and about three meters in diameter was dug.
97	Veste Wachsenburg	Germany	Thuringia		The well is completely bricked. Water was drawn using a treadmill powered by a person or a Saint Bernard dog.
96	Ronneburg Castle	Germany	Hesse
95	Nideggen Castle	Germany	North Rhine-Westphalia		The castle fountain partly followed a natural crevice and was once 95 meters deep. However, since 1945 it has only reached a depth of around 30 meters.
94	Graz Castle Hill	Austria	Styria		The fountain is known as the Turkish Fountain.
90	Fénelon Castle	France	Dordogne
85	Breuberg Castle	Germany	Hesse	Sandstone	The upper part is lined. At the lower end of the bricked part of the well shaft there is a niche that may have been intended for the construction of a secret passage from the castle.
85	Limburg Monastery	Germany	Rhineland-Palatinate		The monastery used to be a castle.
85	Saladin Citadel	Egypt	Cairo		Joseph's Well or Bir Yusuf or "Schneckenbrunnen" is a well with a spiral staircase that originally served to supply the citadel with water.
84.39	Stolpen Castle	Germany	Saxony	basalt	This is considered to be the deepest basalt well in the world.
84.2	Victory Castle	Germany	Schleswig-Holstein	Gypsum rock	Due to the centuries-long dismantling of the limestone mountain after the castle was destroyed (1644), the lower half of the well that has been preserved is only 43 meters today. This only well in Schleswig-Holstein cut into the rock was cleared out in 1806/07 and 1955 and has since been viewed from a platform.
83	Plassenburg	Germany	Bavaria		The well is said to have been almost 140 meters deep when it was completed.
80	Karlštejn Castle	Czech Republic	Central Bohemian Region		No water was found here, so there is a cistern and supply line from a stream. This weak point in the event of a siege was kept secret.
80	Leuchtenburg	Germany	Thuringia	limestone
80	Trenčín Castle	Slovakia			There is a fountain legend that is very well known in Slovakia.
80	Koenigsberg Castle (Bavaria)	Germany	Bavaria
79	Trifels Imperial Castle	Germany	Rhineland-Palatinate
78	Hellenstein Castle	Germany	Baden-Württemberg		The "Kindlesbrunnen" is so called because the Heidenheim babies are not brought by the stork, but - according to a legend - are taken out of the well. The well was dug from 1666 to 1670 by Königsbronn miners. A very expensive and complex company that cost around 6,750 guilders (roughly € 500,000 based on today's purchasing power).
76.5	Willibaldsburg	Germany	Bavaria
72	Raabs Castle on the Thaya	Austria	Lower Austria
70	Fleckenstein Castle	France	Lower Alsace		The well has been buried. There is a legend about the castle fountain.
65	Zusameck Castle	Germany	Bavaria		In 1999/2000 the Heimatverein renewed the castle fountain. The shaft was cleared of rubble to a depth of 29 meters. 36 meters are still buried.
62	Auerbach Castle	Germany	Hesse
62	Rochefort Castle	Belgium	Namur		Cleared in 2002 by the local cave association
62	Haut-Koenigsbourg	France	Alsace
61	Sparrenburg	Germany	North Rhine-Westphalia
60	Heidecksburg	Germany	Thuringia		It was first mentioned in 1512, closed in 1790 and uncovered in 1973.
60	Kufstein Fortress	Austria	Tyrol		The fountain wheel in the form of a treadmill is completely preserved.
60	Neu Raderach castle site	Germany	Baden-Württemberg		In the cellar of the Gasthaus Krone you can still see the deep well, which supplied the castle with water all year round and was once outside the castle. According to recent investigations, the well was built about 60 meters deep and almost reaches lake level.
59	Rupea Castle	Romania	Transylvania		Built in 1623
59	Montépilloy Castle	France	Picardy
59	Château de Logne	Belgium	Liège		The well is 56 m deep and has a diameter of 2.5 m. The fountain was cleared from 1990 to 2002. Around 235 m³ of rubbish was removed, but many objects from the last 480 years were also discovered.
58	Ehrenbreitstein Fortress	Germany	Rhineland-Palatinate		3 years of construction
58	Regensberg	Switzerland	Canton Zurich	limestone	One of the deepest water wells in Switzerland.
57	Lichtenberg Castle (Salzgitter)	Germany	Lower Saxony
57	Bauer Castle Saschiz	Romania	Transylvania		At a depth of 20 meters, an underground passage begins, which is said to have led west into the moat. The presence of this (meanwhile buried) passage has been proven. Until 1950, water could be drawn with the help of a wave wheel. In 1952 it fell victim to senseless rage over the well (which is said to be bricked up to a depth of 80 meters).
57.6	Kastelen ruins	Switzerland	Canton lucerne
55	Devín Castle	Slovakia
54	Bouillon Castle	Belgium
54	Vianden Castle	Luxembourg	Alsace
53	Rochsburg	Germany	Saxony		It took three years of construction to deepen the well from 22 meters to 53 meters.
53	Nuremberg Castle	Germany	Bavaria	Sandstone	The “deep well” in the Imperial Castle is 53 m deep, there is a second well 20 meters deep.
52	Vlotho Castle	Germany	North Rhine-Westphalia		52 meters are currently exposed. The actual depth is not known, although 60 or 80 even 120 meters are considered possible, as the area is 100 meters above the Weser.
50	Reichsburg Cochem	Germany	Rhineland-Palatinate
50	Windsor Castle	Great Britain			The depth is stated to be 165 feet .
49	Carisbrooke Castle	Great Britain			The castle's donkeys are a tourist attraction . Since the time of Elizabeth I, these have been drawing water from the 49 meter deep castle well with the help of a treadmill .
46	Mountain fortress Dilsberg	Germany	Baden-Württemberg		The bottom of the well can be reached through an escape tunnel that leads out into the open, hidden on the slope below the castle. The tunnel and the bottom of the well can be visited for tourists (as of July 2015).
46	Tomburg	Germany	North Rhine-Westphalia		The fountain was uncovered in 1883 by the local heritage association. Numerous archaeological finds, such as stone cannon balls, were made.
45	Rosenberg Fortress	Germany	Bavaria		A well about 45 m deep, which is fed by several springs.
43	Falak-ol-Aflak Castle	Iran
42.60	Harzburg	Germany	Lower Saxony		The well was exposed to a depth of 42.60 meters. At a depth of 12 meters there is a water supply tunnel through which the tradition of King Heinrich IV was able to escape during the siege of the Harzburg by the rebellious Saxons in 1073 .
36.05	Kriebstein Castle	Germany	Saxony		The fountain was discovered by chance in 1981 and uncovered until 1990.
30.20	Kirkel Castle	Germany	Saarland		The well, which is sunk into the red sandstone, has been excavated since 2011 by members of the Friends of Kirkeler Burg under the direction of the archaeologist Christel Bernard. A depth of 30.20 m below the mouth of the fountain was reached at the end of July 2020. The excavation work will continue continuously in the summer months. The depth of the well could be over 60 meters.
30th	Gisors Castle	France	Upper Normandy		In 1941 Roger Lhomoy illegally freed the old castle well from rubble (to a depth of around 30 m) and drove cross tunnels from the bottom of the well to look for a Templar treasure . According to his own statements, he found a Romanesque burial chapel with stone sarcophagi and metal chests.

literature

• Michaela Aufleger (Red.): Water on castles in the Middle Ages. von Zabern, Mainz 2007 ( History of Water Supply 7) ISBN 978-3-8053-3762-5 .
• Axel W. Gleue: How did the water get to the castle? From building wells to hilltop castles and mountain vests . Schnell und Steiner publishing house, Regensburg 2008, ISBN 978-3-7954-2085-7 .
• Nina Günster: Of fountains, donkeys and other things: water supply to hilltop castles using the example of the northern Franconian Alb karst area . Publications of the German Castle Association, Series A, Volume 16. Braubach 2013, ISBN 978-3-927558-37-3 .
• Axel W. Gleue: No castle without water. Supplying the hilltop castles and building deep wells . Schnell und Steiner publishing house, Regensburg 2014, ISBN 978-3-7954-2746-7 . Look into the book

Web links

Commons : Burgbrunnen  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ^ Radio Prague: Nazi wartime secrets revealed in castle well
2. ↑ Hunt continues for SS loot
3. ↑ Karl August Schimmer: History of the Wildenstein knighthood on the blue earth at Sebenstein Castle , page 6
4. ^ Burg Neuhaus Brunnen (sic) on YouTube
5. ↑ Waldeck Castle : Information board for the castle fountain
6. ↑ Special features of the Veste Heldburg
7. ^ ^{A b c} Lise Hull: Understanding the Castle Ruins of England and Wales , p. 122
8. ↑ Friends of Homburg Castle Ruins - History
9. ↑ Ravensberg Castle Foundation: Ravensberg Castle today. In: Foundation Burg Ravensberg. Retrieved May 16, 2020 . 
10. ^ History of Limburg
11. ↑ Jürgen Hagel: The fountain of the Siegesburg in the Segeberger Kalkberg. In: The home. Monthly publication of the Association for the Care of Natural History and Regional Studies in Schleswig-Holstein and Hamburg No. 8 (62nd year), Neumünster 1955, pp. 205–209.
12. ↑ The deep well on the Plassenburg
13. ↑ The legend of the well (sic), an unusual well builder. Archived from the original on March 13, 2016 ; Retrieved November 28, 2014 . 
14. ^ Rochefort, Histoire, Faits et divers, Légends, ragots, rumeurs, cancans et potins . Retrieved November 28, 2014 (French). 
15. ^ The origin of Logne and the Merovingian period . Retrieved November 28, 2014 . 
16. ↑ Regensberg city fortifications. In: burgenwelt.org. Retrieved November 8, 2016 . 
17. ↑ www.dickemauern.de: Bauernburg Saschiz (Cetatea Saschiz) / Saschiz (Keisd) - Romania
18. ↑ History workshop Exter e. V .: Photo documentation for the descent into the Vlothoer Burgbrunnen
19. ↑ The Harzburg castle ruins - the legendary castle fountain
20. ^ Sächsische Zeitung: "The Kriebstein Treasure Hunters" of January 30, 2012
21. ↑ www.zeitensprung.de, Christel Bernard: Reports on the excavation of the well of Kirkel Castle