Wartstein

The Wartstein is a ruined hilltop fortification in the woods west of the village of Eichelburg. It stands on the Teufelsknock, a rocky outcrop about 400 metres above sea level. The site once commanded views of the old road from Roth to Allersberg and the route from Schwand to Hilpoltstein. Its name and position suggest it was a temporary stronghold rather than a permanent residence. The Grafen von Wartstein appear in records from 1284, though their link to this castle is uncertain. In 1361 a Rudolf von Wartstein was appointed judge in Nuremberg. The castle was probably burned between 1460 and 1463 during the war between Ludwig the Rich and Albrecht Achilles. A 1602 drawing, now lost, showed a two-storey building on the rock, but later surveys omit any mention of a castle. Wartstein was finally destroyed in 1632 by Tilly’s troops during the Thirty Years’ War. Local farmers later took stones from the ruins for their own buildings. By 1873 parts of the walls still stood three or four metres high. Today only fragments of the foundations remain, mostly on solid rock. A large underground hollow can be heard echoing beneath the northern edge. The place is wrapped in legend: in 1661 a local innkeeper claimed to have met the devil here. A ghostly noblewoman is said to leave the ruins each New Year’s Eve, fill her jug at the nearby pond, and return before dawn. Nearby stands a white cross where she is said to pray for the dead.