Burg Brandeck

Burg Brandeck stands on a hilltop 640 metres above sea level, 1.8 kilometres south-west of Dornhan in the Rottweil district. The castle was probably built around 1110 by the Fluorn family, who served the counts of Sulz. They soon took the name Brandeck and ruled from the fortress for centuries. By the late 13th century the dukes of Teck held the site, and by 1399 it belonged to Württemberg. The ruins show the remains of a shield wall that once protected the inner ward. Nearby, the Sterneck ruin was built between 1230 and 1250 by Vollmar of Brandeck. A separate family of Brandecks lived at a farmstead near Ohlsbach, which was rebuilt in 1885 as Villa Strehlen. Visitors find the exposed stonework of the shield wall rising from the hilltop grass. The surrounding woodland stretches across the Black Forest foothills, offering long views over the Neckar valley. A short path leads from the car park to the ruin, where stone blocks lie scattered among the trees. The quiet hilltop site gives a sense of the castle’s former strength and the landscape it once commanded.