Cultural heritage D-2-7337-0020 in Obersüßbach

A medieval moated site once stood in the village of Obersüßbach, Lower Bavaria. The vanished castle occupied a small island between two streams that feed the Süßbach, itself a tributary of the Pfettrach. A wooden bridge crossed the six-metre-wide water-filled ditch to reach the square main building, which measured forty by forty-five metres.

The entire complex stretched seventy metres from west to east and one hundred and fifteen metres from north to south. Outside the moat, three ranges of outbuildings formed a rough U, enclosed by a wooden palisade. A 1794 print by Michael Wening shows a three-storey gatehouse, a single-storey west wing, the main castle with steep roof, and two towers capped by onion domes.

Today only grassy banks mark the former island and ditch. The nearby parish church of St Jakobus stands three hundred metres to the north. The site is recognised as a protected archaeological monument, preserving traces of earlier buildings beneath the vanished castle.