Motte Gefrees-Bühl

The Motte Gefrees-Bühl stands on the Mühlberg in Gefrees, a small town in Upper Franconia. It is the remains of a vanished hilltop castle known as a motte, built on a spur overlooking the Lübnitzbach stream. The site lies about 550 metres from Gefrees town centre, on a ridge rising 500 metres above sea level. This ruined earthwork once guarded a junction of the old Via Imperii trade route and a road to Bohemia. Though no written records survive, archaeologists recognise it as a medieval tower mound. The oval mound measures roughly twenty by twenty-five metres, but much of its western edge was levelled in 1910 when a house was built on the site. Visitors reach the spur along quiet paths beside the stream. The remaining core mound drops steeply to the east and south, showing how the original defences once worked. From the ridge there are wide views over the surrounding countryside. The Bavarian State Office for Monument Conservation lists the site as a protected archaeological monument.