Altes Burghaus Schrecksbach

The Alte Burghaus stands in the village of Schrecksbach in northern Hesse. Built between 1580 and 1592, it served as a fortified seat for the Langenstein noble family during a time of border tensions. The building is part of a group of four similar manor houses in the village, each linked by a network of underground passages. The site gained historical significance during the Thirty Years’ War when villagers reportedly used the tunnels to escape marauding soldiers on Christmas Day 1635. Traces of these passages remain visible in the cellar, framed by heavy sandstone blocks and lined with fieldstone. Over the centuries the property passed through several noble and state hands before becoming private farmland. Today the building houses a restaurant with a vaulted cellar and outdoor beer garden. Its two-storey sandstone structure, square floor plan and small round stair tower mark it as a fine example of late 16th-century manor-house architecture. The southern end of the village core, where it stands, preserves the quiet character of this rural landscape.