Burg Bornstedt

The ruins of Burg Bornstedt stand on a ridge in the Hornburger Sattel east of Bornstedt village. The site once commanded the old trade route through the Harz foothills and gave its name to the nearby settlement. By the late 9th century it appeared in the Hersfelder Zehntverzeichnis as Brunstediburg, one of the great imperial strongholds of the Carolingian age. In 1115 Emperor Henry V stationed troops here during his campaign against the Saxons at Welfesholz. The castle passed to the lords of Bornstete, whose descendants still bear a red crenellated wall with a battering ram above it as their coat of arms. The medieval fortress changed hands many times before the counts of Mansfeld held it from 1301 until 1780, when it was abandoned and began to decay. Local legend tells how defenders kept a single pig squealing through each day of a siege, convincing attackers that supplies were plentiful and forcing them to withdraw. Today the castle’s outer walls and moat remain clearly visible across the 350-by-200-metre plateau. A tall square keep, thirty metres high, is the last standing remnant of the inner ward. Visitors walk past the moss-covered entrance arch and along stretches of the ring wall that once enclosed the entire plateau. The inner courtyard hosts summer festivals and a small tavern serves food and drink for celebrations. From the top of the keep the view stretches over rolling farmland towards the Harz mountains. The site is quiet, a place where the medieval past can still be felt in the stone and earthworks.