Wohldenberg Castle

Burg Wohldenberg stands as a ruined hilltop fortress on the Wohldenberg, a 218-metre ridge in the Hainberg range. It overlooks the Nette valley and the old trading route from Hildesheim to Goslar. The castle was built by the counts of Wöltingerode between 1153 and 1160 to secure their advance into the Ambergau. After a brief destruction by Henry the Lion in 1180, it was rebuilt and became the seat of the earls of Wohldenberg. In 1275 the bishops of Hildesheim took possession and held it for centuries, though it passed through many hands. The ruins still show the outer bailey and main castle, once with three inner yards. A gatehouse with a tower guards the entrance, and a bridge crosses the old moat. The 32-metre bergfried survives, and parts of the enclosing wall remain up to two metres thick. Nearby stands the baroque St Hubertus church, built in 1731 from the former castle chapel. A plague column donated in 1518 by Aschwin von Bortfeld marks the lower slopes. Visitors walk among the weathered walls and climb the bergfried for wide views over the valley. The gatehouse now houses a vicarage, and below the hill a former office house serves as a Catholic youth-education centre. The site is reached from Sillium, whose emblem also features the castle.