Burg Killer

Burg Killer once stood in the village of Killer, now part of Burladingen in the Zollernalbkreis. It was a medieval water castle built by the Lords of Killer, ministerial knights in service to the Counts of Zollern. The family also held nearby Frundsburg and took names from Ringelstein and Ringingen. One member, Heinrich von Killer nicknamed ‘Affenschmalz’, served as a cavalry leader in Italy during the 14th century. The line died out around 1485, leaving the castle to decay. Excavations in 1954 uncovered the buried remains of the fortress. Archaeologists found a right-angled moat whose arms measured twenty-four metres each. At the bottom it was two metres wide, widening to eight metres at ground level. Sediment inside proved the ditch once held water, and a sixty-centimetre-thick retaining wall lined its edge. Inside the enclosure, foundations up to two metres thick suggest a tower or a solid hall once rose there. Today the site lies within a private garden plot. Visitors see only grass and flowerbeds where the moat and walls once stood. The quiet surroundings give little hint of the water-filled defences and the noble household that once occupied this spot.