Burg Boll

Burg Boll stands in Boll, a village that now belongs to Sauldorf in the Sigmaringen district of Baden-Württemberg. It began as a lowland water castle built in the late Middle Ages and once guarded the spot where the Krummbach and Espenbach streams meet. The remains of the old fortress now sit inside the Schwanen inn, just north of the Catholic church. The castle first appears in records from 1412 and was long held by the noble family von Heudorf. In the 15th century the brothers Pilgrin, Caspar, Albrecht and Ortholf von Heudorf appear as owners, selling parts of their estate to the Lords of Zimmern. By 1693 the family had sold Boll to the Princes of Fürstenberg, who kept it until 1806 when the land passed to Baden. The building later became a private house and has served as the Schwanen inn ever since. Visitors can still see traces of the medieval structure built into the inn’s walls. A former chapel is suggested by blocked-up arches and recesses in the masonry. The streams still flow close by, one coming from the west and the other from the south, joining just below the village. Though little of the original castle remains, the place offers a quiet glimpse of the region’s feudal past.