Schloss Hohenentringen

Schloss Hohenentringen stands on the edge of the Schönbuch forest, east of Ammerbuch-Entringen and west of Tübingen-Hagelloch. It belongs to the municipality of Ammerbuch but can only be reached by a public road from Hagelloch. The castle sits high above the surrounding villages, offering wide views across the valley. A single track winds up the hillside to the entrance. The site includes the main building, two flanking wings, and a courtyard. Beyond the walls, meadows slope down towards the forest. The castle’s history stretches back to the 12th century, when the lords of Entringen built it for safety. Their first stronghold stood near the church in the village below, but attacks forced them higher. By the 15th century the Ehinger family had taken over, and in 1428 they became the birthplace of Georg von Ehingen, a knight who rode to Rhodes and fought the Turks. Later owners included Barbara Gonzaga of Mantua, who died here in 1503. The present main building dates from 1720, with farm buildings added soon after. Inside, the castle houses a well-known inn whose walls display coats of arms from twenty families who once owned the place. A painting by Gunhild von Ow, completed in 1913, shows the former owners walking to church with their hundred children. The reformer Carl August Zeller was born here in 1774, and his brother Christian Heinrich followed five years later. The inn remains a favourite destination for Tübingen students, who come for the famous fruit punch. From the terrace, visitors look out over the wooded hills of the Schönbuch.