Burg Bühringen

Burg Bühringen stands on a rocky spur 701 metres above sea level where the Rötelbach meets the Fils, just above Bad Überkingen in the Göppingen district. It was built around 1250 by the Counts of Helfenstein for their household knights. The first written record of the knights appears in 1258, naming Albrecht, Ulrich and Heinrich of Überkingen. In 1363 Hans von Obenhausen sold the castle to Count Ulrich of Helfenstein, and later it became the retirement home of Maria of Helfenstein, dowager Duchess of Bosnia. After her death in 1403 the castle was sold to the free imperial city of Ulm, which stationed a bailiff there. The remains show deep scarps toward the valley and three ditches plus two ramparts on the plateau. The neck ditch still reveals foundations of the outer curtain wall. Two buildings probably stood here, and a small keep may have stood on a separate spur, cut off by another ditch. During the Peasants’ War in 1525 the castle was burned and afterwards dismantled almost completely by citizens of Türkheim. Today the site is a quiet clearing among beech woods, with the stone scars and earthworks still marking the old defences. Visitors can walk the plateau and trace the lines of the ditches and ramparts. From the edge there are wide views down the Fils valley toward the Swabian Alb. The place feels remote, yet the remains speak clearly of its past as a stronghold of the Helfenstein counts.