Burg Honstetten

The Burg Honstetten stands on a 600-metre hill in the centre of Honstetten, a village that belongs to Eigeltingen. The stone tower is the last part of a once larger fortified seat. It was built around the turn of the 11th to 12th century and first recorded in 1429. The tower passed through unknown hands before the House of Fürstenberg owned it. In 1902 the community took it over, then the state, and since 1992 it has been private property again. The three-storey keep rises 15.5 metres and measures nine by seven metres. A covered wooden stair leads to the high entrance on the south side. The north gable shows blocked-up masonry where a barrel or pointed barrel roof once sat. Shuttered arrow-slits remain visible, and the ground floor still shows beam holes for an outer timber structure. The roughly cut outer stones lack the usual bossed ashlar finish. Visitors walk up to the tower through Honstetten’s quiet lanes. Inside, the ground floor’s beam holes hint at former wooden galleries. Above, the first and second floors are empty chambers lit by arrow-slits. The roof platform gives a wide view over the surrounding countryside. The modest keep is a quiet witness to medieval life in the Hegau region.