Dürnau moated castle

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Street side of the gatehouse
View from the former farm yard to the rear of the gatehouse. On the left the bridge and the former moat

The moated castle in Dürnau in the district of Göppingen was a medieval manor house that was largely demolished in 1845.

history

The moated castle Dürnau originally belonged to the Dürners of Dürnau and in 1382 became the property of the Lords of Westerstetten . A written certificate from the same year casts doubt on the habitability of the facility at that time. In 1478 it was acquired by the Lords of Zillenhardt and after the last male branch of this line had expired in 1623, it fell to the Lords of Degenfeld .

Christoph Martin von Degenfeld had the already rather dilapidated property renovated after his return from the Turkish wars; Repair work on the base of the New Palace by Heinrich Schickhardt is also attested.

Christoph Martin's son Hannibal von Degenfeld sold the property to Bavaria in 1684, but this act of sale was later declared illegal. In 1711 half of the property fell back to the von Degenfeld family, and they were later able to buy back the other half. In the meantime, the Elector Karl Joseph had given the - dilapidated - property to the Countess of Perousa as a gift. There is also a statement about the poor condition of the buildings from 1765. The Degenfelder moved to Eybach in 1771, although they were now in possession of the entire palace complex again. In 1806 the imperial knighthood ended and Dürnau became part of Württemberg. As part of the Württemberg state survey, the building stocks were recorded more precisely; a little later, in the description of the Göppingen Regional Office, they were described as near to decay and completely uninhabited . A year later, in 1845, most of the palace complex was demolished. From 1999 the area was redesigned and partly built over; These measures were accompanied by an investigation on behalf of the State Archaeological Office.

Buildings

Probably the oldest picture of the castle, a wood-carved map, dates from 1602. In the accompanying description, a bell is mentioned, which is more likely to belong to the church of St. Cyriakus than to the castle, which can also be heard in Boll . According to the Dürnauer Salbuch from 1686, the castle had a gatehouse, three barns, a forecourt with a moat, a barn and several stable buildings.

The gatehouse, which is still preserved today, formed the entrance to the palace complex. A drawbridge, which was later replaced by a stone arch bridge, led over the moat from the inner courtyard to the actual castle area. The castle itself was divided into the old and the new castle and various farm buildings.

In addition to the gatehouse and the arched bridge from the years 1761/62, which were exposed again in the course of the town center renovation, a vaulted cellar in particular has been preserved. Parts of the farm buildings are now used as commercial buildings; the gate house is home to the Grail Glass Museum .

Coordinates: 48 ° 38 ′ 30.8 "  N , 9 ° 38 ′ 4.2"  E