Hüttelngesäß Castle

Schloss Hüttelngesäß lies in the Spessart hills between Niedersteinbach and Geiselbach, at the bottom of the Teufelsgrund valley in the Kahlgrund. The site once held a water castle first recorded in 1131. In 1403 Archbishop Johann II of Nassau secured the right to open the castle gates. Together with nearby Mömbris and Hauenstein it guarded land under the Counts of Rieneck. A raid in the Wetterau war of 1405 left the castle in ruins. The counts of Hanau bought the crumbling remains in 1510 as a ‘ruined structure’ with meadows and woods. They never rebuilt it. Today parts of the outbuilding, the enclosing wall and the base of the living tower still stand. Since 1754 the Savigny family have owned the ruin and the adjoining forest farm. Visitors walk among the old masonry and the forest farm’s buildings. The ruins sit beside a working farm where foresters live. The valley’s quiet paths lead past the site, offering views of the Spessart’s wooded slopes. The castle’s history is recalled in local guides and studies.