Cultural heritage D-2-7544-0006 in Bayerbach (Rottal-Inn)

Bayerbach’s vanished castle stands in the quiet village of Bayerbach in Lower Bavaria, 90 metres south of the parish church of St Peter. On the 1830 Bavarian land register a rectangular island, fifty metres long and thirty metres wide, is still visible, surrounded by a fifteen-metre-wide moat and reached by a bridge from the east. Archaeologists recognise the remains as traces of a late medieval manor house built on the site of a high-medieval motte-and-bailey castle. The first stone castle was pulled down in the 16th century and replaced by a two-winged Baroque building with three round corner towers topped by onion domes. A walled Baroque park stretched between the castle and the church, while an enclosed garden lay to the east. The castle’s history begins in the 12th century when members of the Purbach family appear in the records of Asbach and Mondsee monasteries. By 1447 the estate was called a Hofmark and belonged to Pangraz Glatz. After several changes of ownership the Etzenberg family held the Hofmark from 1640 until 1710, when it passed to the Counts of Rheinstein-Tattenbach. These nobles acquired low justice rights over the surrounding farms, which then numbered four half-holdings, two quarter-holdings, thirteen smallholdings and five houses. In the early 19th century the Hofmark was bought by the Counts of Arco auf Valley. Today nothing of the castle remains above ground. The only visible traces are the modern paths that follow the line of the old moat on the east and south sides. The entire former castle precinct is covered by private houses, yet the church and the village green keep the memory of the vanished seat of local power. Visitors can walk the quiet lanes and imagine the moated island where medieval lords once held court.