Burgstall Rottenstein

The Burgstall Rottenstein stands east of Rottenstein village in Unterfranken. It was a spur castle built on a ridge that drops steeply on three sides. The remains lie in woodland at 410 metres above sea level, about 440 metres from the village centre. The site is worth visiting for its well-preserved earthworks. A ten-metre-wide, five-metre-deep neck ditch once defended the north side. West and east sides have a second smaller ditch with an outer bank halfway down the slope. The square keep measured roughly six metres across and left a low mound of rubble. Visitors follow a footpath that crosses the neck ditch and continues to the Schwedenschanze ringwork and its viewing tower. Inside the former courtyard a cistern once supplied water, and nearby sandstone blocks mark where buildings stood. The whole place is quiet, rarely visited, and shows how medieval defences worked in the landscape.