Burg Dachsberg

The Burg Dachsberg stands on a small hill 3,000 metres south-east of Obermarchtal in the Alb-Donau district. It rises about 605 metres above sea level on a flat summit known as a Kuppe. The site once belonged to a group of villages called Dachdorf, Ober- and Niederdachdorf, now vanished. These settlements lay south of Obermarchtal between the upper Marbach stream and the foot of the hill. The hill itself is only seven metres high, yet it was enough to hold a small fortification. The fort was built before 1200 and belonged to the counts of Veringen in the 12th century. Local knightly families also held rights there. The oval enclosure measured twenty-four metres by seven metres. Today only low banks of earth and the remains of a ditch can be seen. Archaeologists from the state survey and monument office still list the site in their records. Visitors walk up a gentle slope to the flat top of the hill. The view stretches across the surrounding farmland and the upper Marbach valley. There are no buildings left, only grass and a few scattered stones marking the old walls. The silence is broken only by birds and the wind across the open fields. The place shows how small medieval strongholds once guarded this stretch of countryside.