Burgstall Foerles-Neudürrlas

The Burgstall Neudürrlas is a vanished motte-and-bailey castle near Neudürrlas in Upper Franconia. It stands on a small hill surrounded by a moat shaped like a horseshoe. The site is now covered in woodland, with steep slopes on one side and traces of old peat workings on another. Historians date the earthworks to the 12th century. The local scholar Johann Christoph Stierlein sketched and measured the remains in the 18th century, calling it Schloss Förles. Later records from 1499 call it Turnleins and describe it as a checkpoint on a busy trade route for ore and charcoal. Finds of medieval pottery show it was used from the 12th to the early 14th century. Visitors walk along a lane beside the site to reach a sign marked Schwedenschanze. Inside the moat lie shallow depressions that once held wooden buildings. The whole area is quiet and shaded, with the remains of the old defences still visible under the trees.