Picture in header: Remains of the keep and walls of neighbouring buildings after removal of the vegetation. Photo: W. Richter
View across the castle grounds to the east: Remains of the curtain wall to the front left, inner buildings and keep in the background. Photo: W. Richter
Existing Situation
The Turmhölzle castle ruins are among the best-preserved castle ruins in the district of Lörrach. It is situated on an oval hilltop at the end of a mountain spur on the southern slope of the Hohe Möhr to the east of the upper village of Raitbach, a district of the town of Schopfheim. The castle ruins occupy almost the entire summit plateau of the hilltop. It extends over approx. 35 metres in an east-west direction and approx. 18 metres at its widest point in a north-south direction. It has a total area of approx. 600 m2.
Full width of the keep facing south. Photo: W. Richter
House stones set in layers at the SW corner of the keep. Photo: W. Richter
On the left of the picture are the remains of the door/threshold to the first floor of the palace. View from inside the palace. The keep wall on the left edge of the picture. Photo: W. Richter
Ground plan of the castle ruin, GPS survey: Stadtmuseum Schopfheim
The remains of the rectangular castle tower/mountain keep (Bergfried) (1) with a base area of 9.5 x 7.5 m and a wall thickness of approx. 2.5 m can be found in the eastern part of the castle grounds. The keep leans directly against the castle's curtain wall (Ringmauer) (2) on the east side. The curtain wall has a thickness of 0.8 to 1.2 m. It was excavated on the east and north sides of the castle in 1981. To the west, it can be seen in the terrain along the edge of the summit plateau, partly on the basis of the mossy stones. On the south side, the course of the curtain wall is largely unclear, as this area has not yet been archaeologically investigated. The castle gate, the location of which is still unknown, is also presumed to be in this area.
Adjacent to the keep to the west are the remains of the presumed main (residential) building (palas) (3) of the castle. Two construction phases can be distinguished for the palas: In the first construction phase, the palas was separate from the keep (3). In a second construction phase, the palas was extended and rebuilt. The eastern wall from the first construction phase was removed down to the first floor and new walls (4) were built (red in the plan). The palas was thus extended and reached as far as the keep. The upper edges of the wall remains in the area of the extension (4) correspond approximately to the upper edge of the first floor. The remains of a door leading to the second floor of the extended palas can be found directly next to the keep. The door was probably accessible via a wooden staircase.
The buildings in the western and southern part of the castle are unknown, as this part of the castle grounds has not yet been archaeologically investigated.
Ditches and ramparts are visible around the hilltop. To the east, the hilltop is separated from the rest of the spur by a neck ditch. To the north and west, the hilltop is protected by a ring ditch with a partially polished rampart in front of it.
History
No direct historical information about the castle has yet been found. The name "Turmhölzle" is not the original name of the castle in the Middle Ages. "Fernegg" or "Farnegg" has been suggested as the original castle name on the basis of field names in property descriptions of the monastery of St. Blasien, which had estates in Raitbach (Schubring 1986).
The date of construction of the castle is unknown. The masonry of the keep could indicate that it was built in the 12th century (Meyer 1981). The builder of the castle is unknown. The castle may have been built by a ministerial of the monastery of St. Blasien to protect the monastic lordship in this area. Raitbach belonged to the Fahrnau-Raitbach estate of the monastery of St. Blasien (Schubring 2000). The pottery found during the excavation suggests that the castle was used until the late Middle Ages.
Taxiarchos228, Lörrach - Röttler Kirche - Bildnis Rudolf III, CC BY 3.0
More precise information on the end of the castle is missing. In 1400, Anna von Klingenberg, the widow of the knight Rudolf Hürus d.A. von Schönau, and her son Albrecht von Schönau sold the Neuenstein estate with the fortress "Nuw Stein" (nowadays ruin Burgholz) and the surrounding villages of Raitbach, Gersbach, Schlechtbach, Schweigmatt and Kürnberg as well as several farms to Margrave Rudolf III von Hachberg-Sausenberg. Although the Turmhölzle is located in this area, it was not mentioned in the deal. This may indicate that the Turmhölzle was already a ruin by that time. It remains to be seen whether the charred pieces of clay found during the excavation point to a fire as the end of the castle or whether the Turmhölzle shared the fate of many medieval hilltop castles, namely to be abandoned and fall into ruin, only to be used later as a "quarry".
Excavation of the castle
In 1981, the eastern part of the castle with the keep was excavated by school groups under the guidance of archaeologists on the initiative of the town of Schopfheim. Most of the remains of the walls now visible came to light during this excavation.
In 1982, the State Monuments Office stopped further excavations before the excavated walls were properly conserved and secured. No conservation of these walls has yet taken place.
As the excavation of the castle could not be continued, many questions about the layout, the building history and the beginning and end of the castle remained unanswered.
Endangerment of the castle ruins
Decay of the curtain wall on the east side of the castle: wall collapse from 2022. Photo: W. Richter
Ring wall on the east side of the castle: Before the excavation in 2018. Photo: W. Richter
The sections of wall uncovered during the 1981 excavation were not preserved at the time. In the meantime, the exposed walls have begun to decay. In 2022, for example, there was a major wall collapse on the east side of the curtain wall. Significant decay is also visible on parts of the interior buildings.
It is to be expected that without conservation of the walls, the decay will continue and could lead to the long-term loss of this remarkable castle ruin.
Literature
Werner Meyer, Burgen von A bis Z – Burgenlexikon der Regio, Basel 1981. p. 35
Klaus Schubring, Ein älterer Name für das Turmhölzle in Raitbach – Eine Ruine gibt Fragen auf, in: Jahrbuch ´86 Stadt Schopfheim, p. 62-69.
Klaus Schubring, Bauern, Mönche und Adlige, in: Schopfheim - Natur, Geschichte, Kultur; Schopfheim, 2000. p. 101-120.
C.A. Müller, Burgen und Schlösser, in: Das Markgräflerland, Jahrgang 4/35, Sonderheft 1973