Burgstall Poppenreuth

Poppenreuth is a small village in the Upper Palatinate near the border with Austria. The remains of its medieval fortress stand in the centre, surrounded by farmland and quiet lanes. A single-storey house now occupies the site of the old keep, but the outline of the island and its moat can still be traced. The fortress began as a small Blochwerk, or wooden tower, built for the monastery at Waldsassen in the 12th century. By 1502 it had become the seat of the local court, run by a succession of noble families and stift servants. The last private owner sold it back to the monastery in 1511, and the buildings were gradually dismantled or absorbed into the village. Visitors walk past the modern farmhouse to the grassy mound that marks the island. A low embankment curves round three sides of the old moat, which still holds water. The rectangular depression of the former pond is visible beside the lane, while the nearby Kretsche, once the inn for travellers, was removed in the 1960s when the main road was widened.