List of castles and fortifications on the dune

The list of castles and fortifications is a directory of historical castles , palaces , castle stables and waiting areas on and on the ridges of the Dün in the districts of Eichsfeld , Nordhausen , Unstrut-Hainich and Kyffhäuser in Thuringia .

backgrounds

The Dün is part of the northern shell limestone framing of the Thuringian Basin and extends from Heilbad Heiligenstadt in the west to Bleicherode in the east, where it merges smoothly into the Hainleite . In the Middle Ages, some historic highways led from north to south across the Dün, as well as from west to east in the Leine and Wippertal valleys to the north. The accumulation of fortifications along these traffic routes probably served to protect and control them. Of all the medieval facilities, only Scharfenstein Castle and Deuna Castle have been preserved. The Mühlhausen Landgraben, which runs over the southern dune roofing, served to protect the Free City of Mühlhausen and is still relatively well preserved along its entire length.

List of fortifications

The list is arranged according to geographical location from west to east along the level of the Dün and then to the south-east on the southern roof of the ridge.

Place / location	Surname	Type	Time of origin	Special features State of preservation	image
Heilbad Heiligenstadt	Thin wait	Watch tower	14./15. century	Part of the Heiligenstädter Landwehr no longer exists
Beuren	Scharfenstein Castle	Spurburg	before 1200
Beuren	Beisenburg			Castle hill was detectable earlier
Beuren	Beuren Castle			(Customs tower)
Beinrode	Castle on your head	Hilltop castle	13./14. century
Effects	Upper Birkenstein Castle	Hilltop castle	after 1200	Wall and moat remains
Effects	Lower Birkenstein Castle			about 300 m east of the upper castle small remains of ramparts and moats
Reifenstein	Old castle	Spurburg	10th century	on the remains of an early Iron Age ramparts Wall and ditch systems
Kleinbartloff	Small old castle	Hilltop castle	12th Century	small wall and ditch remains
Beberstedt	On the wall		12th Century	small castle complex in place
Rudigershagen	Oberwall Rüdigershagen		before 1311	Wall and moat remains
Rudigershagen	Unterwall Rüdigershagen	Moated castle?	before 1288	Grave conditioning in the outer ward of the later manor was built
Deuna	Deuna moated castle	Moated castle	13th Century
Deuna	Deuna front yard			no medieval castle remains
Keula	Keula moated castle	Moated castle	before 1000	Hill of ruins, servants' house
Schönberg near Rehungen	Wait on the Schönberg	Watch tower	14th Century	Part of the Hohnsteiner Landwehr
Reinhardsberg near Niedergebra (at the transition to the Hainleite)		Wallburg		Wall and moat
Southern thin plateau	Mill houses Landgraben	Landwehr	14th Century	Wall and moat system with several waiting towers
Eigenrode	Eigenröder or Hüpstedter Warte	Watch tower	13th Century	Remnants of the tower, part of the Mühlhäuser Landgraben
Hüpstedt	High wait	Watch tower		probably a waiting room from the time before the Mühlhäuser Landgraben
Sollstedt	Sollstedter Warte or Schwarzburger Warte	Watch tower	13./14. century	Part of the Mühlhäuser Landgraben
Sollstedt	Tower?		before 1288	small fortified mansion
Kleinkeula	Landwehr			Part of the Landwehr special houses
Horsmar	Horsmarer wait	Watch tower		Remnants of the wall, part of the Mühlhäuser Landgraben
Holzthaleben (at the transition to the Hainleite)	Helbeburg	Wallburg		Ramparts
Reiser , Kaisershagen (at the transition to the Thuringian Basin)	Tuttensode Castle	Wallburg	before 973	Prehistoric and high medieval complex in the Tuttensode desert
Saalfeld (at the transition to the Thuringian Basin)	Forestry Observatory			Small mansion or tower moat

literature

• Rolf Aulepp: The castles and old streets of the Dün. Eichsfelder Heimathefte, issue 1/1985, pp. 65–74 and issue 2/1985, pp. 144–151
• Paul Grimm and Wolfgang Timpel: The prehistoric and early historical fortifications of the Mühlhausen district. Mulhouse (1972)
• Paul Grimm and Wolfgang Timpel: The prehistoric and early historical fortifications of the Worbis district. In: Eichsfelder Heimathefte special edition, Worbis 1966
• Paul Grimm: To the Landwehr of the upper Eichsfeld. Study on European prehistory and early history. (Festschrift H. Jankuhn) Neumünster 1968, pp. 180–187
• Levin von Wintzingeroda-Knorr : The desert areas of the Eichsfeld: Directory of the desert areas, prehistoric ramparts, mines, courts of justice and waiting areas within the districts of Duderstadt, Heiligenstadt, Mühlhausen and Worbis. Göttingen (O. Hendel) 1903, section 478. Waiting, pp. 952-975
• Rolf Aulepp: The castle and desert Tuttensode near Reiser in the Mühlhausen district. Eichsfelder Heimathefte, issue 4/1978, p. 349 ff.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Rolf Aulepp: The castles and old streets of the Dün. Eichsfelder Heimathefte, issue 1/1985, pp. 65–74 and issue 2/1985, pp. 144–151