Grombach Castle

Grombach Castle from the south

Grombach Castle from the east

The Grombach Castle in Grombach , a district of Bad Rappenau in the district of Heilbronn in northern Baden-Württemberg , is a former water castle from the 13th century. Due to the eventful ownership history of Grombach, the castle was not inhabited at all times. The Lords of Venningen , who acquired the castle and town of Grombach in 1498, had them rebuilt in the Renaissance style in 1544. After an interruption in the 17th century, they have been in possession of the facility again since around 1700. The castle was last inhabited by the owners in the middle of the 19th century. Since then, the associated large estate has been leased, while the residential building of the castle has been used for various residential purposes.

Administrator's house from 1757

history

The water castle was built by the local nobility in the 13th and 14th centuries. In 1337, the Speyer bishop Gerhard von Ehrenberg , as a liege lord , the canon Ulrich von Württemberg († 1348) confirmed her lifelong possession, which also included the village. Then it passed to the gentlemen of Helmstatt . Erhard von Helmstatt († 1514) sold the village with castle and sovereign rights to Stephan von Venningen († 1530) from the Neidenstein-Zuzenhausen line of the Lords of Venningen in 1498 .

The castle was badly damaged in the Landshut War of Succession in 1504 and possibly also damaged again in the Peasants' War in 1525. In 1544, under Christoph von Venningen , it was rebuilt in the Renaissance style . The castle was not inhabited at all times and shares the eventful history of ownership of the place. After the extinction of the male line of Grombacher Venningen with Friedrich von Venningen in 1578, the property came to the lords of Flersheim , in the 17th century via the Boos von Waldeck to the Bavarian equestrian general Johann von Werth (1591-1652) and through his daughter to the lords Raitz from Frentz . In the warlike 17th century, the castle was damaged again, as it was described in 1742 as "already dilapidated 50 years ago".

Represented by Eberhard Friedrich von Venningen (1642–1710), the Venningen obtained the assignment of ownership in 1697 and the transfer back of Grombach in 1702, so that Eberhard Friedrich's brother Philipp Egolph († 1708) then resided in the castle. After lengthy inheritance disputes, the property passed to the descendants of the third brother Philipp Augustin († 1713). His grandson Carl Philipp von Venningen (1728–1797) had the castle renovated again. In order to avoid further inheritance disputes, the Grombach castle and estate have belonged to the Venningen family entourage since 1790 as an allodial property . Carl Theodor von Venningen (1806–1874), who was married to Jane Digby , had the castle renovated again in 1840.

The castle was last inhabited by the owner family in 1865, after which it served as the apartment of the Venningen rent bureau. The castle, in which refugees were quartered after 1945 and whose residential building is still rented for residential purposes, has not undergone any major renovations for a long time. In 2003 the roofing was renewed.

The entire Venningen property in Grombach was leased to the Waghäusel sugar factory from 1893 and later to Südzucker . The manager of the estate had his apartment in the manager's house next to the castle. After the Second World War, the estate comprised 147 hectares of arable land. Due to land reform and land consolidation, around 36 hectares were reduced; the total area, including small leasehold land that has since been added, now includes 122 hectares. From 1973 onwards, the Gemmingensche Gut in Treschklingen and from 1989 the areas of the Oberbiegelhof were also managed from the Schlossgut in Grombach . The Grombach, Treschklingen and Oberbiegelhof estates have been managed by the Südzucker lease in Bockschaft since 1996 .

Farm buildings

description

Grombach Castle, located at the south-eastern end of the village, was created by rebuilding a moated castle that may have existed as early as the 13th century. The moat, which was filled in for a long time, is only vaguely recognizable.

According to more recent attempts at reconstruction, the moated castle could have been a square complex, the northern half of which was occupied by the residential building, while the southern half was an inner courtyard protected by high walls with two corner towers, between which there was access to the complex via a drawbridge. According to the reconstruction, the tower in the south-west corner and most of the mantle wall in the south and west would have disappeared today, while the round defensive tower in the south-east corner, which is connected to the main building via the mantle wall , would still go back to the old castle complex.

The main building, a Gothic residential building with four floors, was changed several times. The octagonal stair tower attached to it was built by 1544.

To the west of the castle is a large economic area. The administrator's house is an elongated two-storey baroque building from 1757 with a gate passage and coat of arms, the other outbuildings consist mainly of barns. A former forge was demolished after 1965, the "Polenhaus", a residential building for seasonal workers, in 2006.

literature

• Hartmut Riehl: Castles and palaces in the Kraichgau . Regional culture publishing house, Ubstadt-Weiher 1997, ISBN 3-929366-51-7 , pp. 55–56.
• Frank Buchali and Arnold Scheuerbrandt: The former moated castle . In: City of Bad Rappenau (ed.): Grunbach uff dem Creichgöw. A home book. Contributions to the past and present of Grombach, the westernmost district of Bad Rappenau , Bad Rappenau 2010, pp. 134–138.

Web links

Commons : Schloss Grombach  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Konrad von Busch and Franz Xaver Glasschröder : Choir Rules and Younger Sea Book of the Old Speyer Cathedral Chapter , Speyer, Historischer Verein der Pfalz, 1923, page 130
2. ↑ Buchali / Bertoldo 2002, ill. In Grunbach uff dem Creichgöw 2010, p. 195.

Coordinates: 49 ° 13 ′ 38.9 ″  N , 9 ° 0 ′ 0.5 ″  E