Ruine Ehestetten

The ruins of Ehestetten stand on a rock spur called Taubenfels, high above the Schmeie valley. The spur rises 855 metres above sea level and juts out 2,200 metres south-south-east of the Martinskirche in Ebingen, part of Albstadt. The site once held a spur castle built around 1100 by local nobles. Earlier, in 1094, a castrum had been mentioned there but was already in ruins. The lords of Winzeln owned Ehestetten and its first castle, with their ministerial family appearing in records as early as 1084. The castle was abandoned by about 1139 when Ehestetten passed to Saint Gall Abbey. Pope Innocent II confirmed the abbey’s possession in that year. Below the ruins lie the Ehestetten mill and the Ehestetten farm in the valley meadows. The layout shows a 40-by-25-metre outer bailey shaped like a horseshoe, separated from the inner ward by a neck ditch. The inner ward measured about 28 by 18 metres and still shows faint traces of its square keep. Mortared wall lines mark the main castle’s ring wall, mostly visible as low ramparts. On the east side two courses of roughly dressed small ashlar blocks remain. The keep itself had six-metre sides and smooth ashlar masonry. Visitors walk among these remnants and the ditches, looking down on the valley where the mill and farm continue their quiet work.