castle Grötzingen

The ruined castle of Grötzingen stands in the centre of the Aichtal suburb of Grötzingen, near Stuttgart. Once a lowland fortress, it was built on a mound surrounded by a moat. The site shows traces of a 13th-century wooden bridge that linked the castle to the town. Archaeologists dated a surviving timber beam to about 1272, confirming the bridge’s existence. After 1300 the original structure was replaced by a stone tower with timber upper floors. By 1335 half the castle had passed to the Counts of Hohenberg, who sold it to Württemberg two years later. The castle’s owners changed hands in the 14th century but left few written records after that period. Excavations in 1995 uncovered the tower’s foundations and measured its walls at 1.5 metres thick. The mound itself spanned 40 metres across, and the tower base measured eight by eight metres. All visible remains were removed in 1952, though records and photographs survive. The site now appears as a low, grassy rise in a quiet residential street. Visitors find a small public space on the former mound, marked by an information board. A low fence outlines the tower’s former footprint. Neighbouring houses overlook the spot, blending medieval history with modern life. The setting is calm, with no grand ruins left to climb. The place offers a quiet reminder of a castle that once controlled the valley approach to Grötzingen.