Kastenbuck Castle

Burg Kastenbuck stands on a low hillside near Bleichheim, a village on the edge of Herbolzheim in the Emmendingen district. The site overlooks the valley below and is reached by a short walk from the Mattenmühle mill and the Kirnhalterhof farm. It occupies a small spur called the Kirnberg, where the remains lie on ground that drops away steeply to north and east. The spur is marked on old maps as the Flur ‘Kastenbuck’, a name that points to a grain store or chest. The castle was probably built in the 12th century and first appears in records in 1203 as ‘Castilhovin’. By the 19th century only traces of a tower were still visible, drawn in 1879 by Franz Joseph Lederle. Excavations in 1999 confirmed the outline of a roughly rectangular enclosure, sixty metres long and forty wide, with a mound marking the site of a tower at the southern corner. Archaeologists also found ditches and the foundations of a building measuring ten by twenty metres. Visitors today see grassy banks and shallow ditches that trace the old walls. The tower mound rises gently in the south-west corner, giving a sense of where the strongest point once stood. The surrounding farmland and distant views across the valley show why the site was chosen. A nearby information board explains the findings without cluttering the quiet spot. The place feels remote, yet it lies only a short walk from the road and the mill.