Burgstall Schlossberg

The high-medieval Burgstall Schlossberg stands on a spur above a loop of the Würm valley in Gauting, Upper Bavaria. It lies 1,500 metres north of Leutstetten church on the eastern edge of the valley. A second earthwork on the far bank of the river may be a bridgehead or outer work of the same period. The site dates from the 11th to 13th centuries, when ministerial knights built small castles across the region. Keramic sherds picked up in 1972 place the castle’s origins in the 11th century. The layout shows the two-part plan typical of such forts: a narrow courtyard for servants and a larger inner ward for the lord. Nearby Karlsburg, a great stone castle of the high Middle Ages, was run by the Bavarian counts palatine. A smaller tower mound south of Leutststetten may have belonged to one of their vassals. Visitors walk along the deep neck ditch that separates the outer ward from the main castle. The inner plateau is only 10 to 25 metres wide and 40 metres long, with sides protected by ditches up to ten metres deep. On the far bank a low earthwork still stands eight metres above the valley floor, perhaps a refuge for a few hundred people. The whole hill commands wide views over the Würm valley and the surrounding forests.