Burg Melteuer

A vanished water fortress once stood beside the Teichelberg ridge north of Pechbrunn. The site lay within a medieval marshland where the Eger river widened into fishponds. In 1289 Heinrich II of Liebenstein divided the surrounding villages between Waldsassen Abbey and Arnold of Öd, a local knight. By 1354 the monastery granted the first known lord of Melteuer, Raspo de Meltewer, estates on the northern slopes. Earlier records suggest his father already held the castle, so the stronghold must date from the 13th century or earlier. The wooden palisade and earth banks rose from the water to command an old trade road toward Eger. A 1507 dispute between the Rasp family and the abbey shows how fiercely the site was contested. The last written trace comes from 1555 when the forest master Sieder noted an abandoned mill pond where the castle’s fishponds once fed a water mill. By then the fortress had vanished, leaving only the name Melteuer in local field-names. Today the Teichelberg ridge is a quiet stretch of farmland and woodland. A small hamlet called Steinlohweg stands near the probable site, where old maps still mark the Flur Melteuerin. Walkers cross meadows that were once flooded enclosures, and the only remains are the low banks of the old moat. The vanished water fortress survives only in the names of fields and streams.