Itkon ruins

Itkon ruins
	Northern moat and castle hill behind (2010)
Alternative name (s):	Rear Bischofstein
Creation time :	1st half of the 12th century
Castle type :	Höhenburg, ridge position
Conservation status:	Only obstacles to approach are visible
Construction:	Stone and wood
Place:	Itkon village has gone
Geographical location	47 ° 28 '31.3 " N , 7 ° 49' 40.2" E Coordinates: 47 ° 28 '31.3 " N , 7 ° 49' 40.2" E ; CH1903: six hundred and twenty-nine thousand three hundred forty / 258360
Height:	710 m above sea level M.

The ruin Itkon is the ruin of a medieval ridge castle in the Ergolztal in the Swiss canton of Basel-Landschaft . The castle and the associated village are also among the names Eikon , Ittikon and Ickten documented.

location

North of Sissach (on the municipal boundary between Sissach and Böckten ) is the Itkon ruin in the immediate vicinity (100 meters north) of the Bischofstein ruin at 710 m above sea level. M. on the ridge of the Chienberg. Although it cannot be seen from a distance, it is easy to reach from Sissach or the Sissacherfluh on hiking and footpaths.

investment

Northernmost neck ditch, probably even prehistoric (March 2010)

Itkon Castle was built between two deep neck trenches that were cut across the ridge. At the northern end of the complex there is another, smaller neck ditch, which may have been dug in prehistoric times - in connection with the Sissacherfluh fortified settlement . So far only a few step-by-step excavations have been carried out, mostly as an appendage to archaeological work on the neighboring ruins of Bischofstein . Small traces of the wall were discovered, which on the one hand are interpreted as mortar walls and on the other hand were even listed as dry stone walls . A small pit was also discovered, but its use cannot be concluded without further excavations. One reason for the few traces of the wall can be found in the fact that the Lords of Eptingen exploited the ruin Itkon, which was probably already in disrepair at the time, as a building material supplier for the construction of Bischofstein Castle.

Southern Neck Ditch (March 2010)

history

No documents have been received about the construction period. The few archaeological finds that have been made so far indicate a settlement from the first half of the 12th century to the second half of the 13th century. From the first half of the 13th century there is also a documentary record of an Itkon family, which died out around 1250. These were named after a nearby village in the Brunnmatttal (northwest of Sissach, field name Ikte ), which no longer exists today.

After the Itkon family died out, the Lords of Eptingen took over the property and built Bischofstein Castle.

literature

Werner Meyer : Castles from A to Z - Burgenlexikon der Regio . Published by the Castle Friends of both Basels on the occasion of their 50th anniversary. Klingental printing works, Basel 1981, p. 101.
Felix Müller: The Bischofstein near Sissach, Canton Baselland . In: Basel contributions to prehistory and early history . Volume 4, Habegger Verlag, Derendingen-Solothurn 1980.
Karl Stehlin : The lost village of Itkon . In: Basler Zeitschrift für Geschichte und Altertumskunde . Volume 15, 1916, pp. 231-236. ( Digitized version )

Web links

Commons : Ruine Itkon - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Castle world: Castle Itkon