Burg Korb

Burg Korb was a medieval spur castle on a low hill above the Hergstbach stream in Korb, now part of Möckmühl in northern Baden-Württemberg. The site sits on a spur formed where the Fuchsklinge valley meets the stream, just below the village church. Archaeologists believe the castle was built by a local noble family in the 12th century. Only fragments of its walls remain, discovered in 1979 during work on a new mortuary chapel. The ruins lie beneath a small mound that rises above the surrounding churchyard.

The discovery of two-metre-thick double-skin masonry with rubble and mortar cores showed the castle was a modest motte-and-bailey structure. A nearby earthwork at Katzenbuckel, one kilometre south, may represent another lost stronghold of the same family. Written records first mention the Korb noble Bucco de Corba in 1103 as a witness to a donation to Hirsau Abbey. His brother Sigeloch later gave twelve farms in Korb to Comburg Abbey, but the exact location of the lord’s residence stayed unknown for centuries.

Visitors today see the quiet churchyard where the remains lie buried beneath grass and earth. A low mound marks the spot where the south-west corner of the old walls was briefly uncovered for study. The stream valley and surrounding fields give a sense of the original defensive position. No standing buildings survive, but the place still tells the story of a small medieval lord’s home and its vanished stone walls.