Darrtor

The Darrtor is a medieval gate tower in Saalfeld, eastern Germany. It stands at the end of Darrtorstraße, where a market road once led to the old suburb Alter Markt outside the town walls. The suburb supplied the royal residence and the Benedictine monastery and is about two centuries older than the walled town centre. The tower’s name probably comes from a Slavic word for market place. By the late Middle Ages it served as a prison, holding citizens who tried to storm the monastery during the Peasants’ War. In 1570 the ground floor was sealed off, a small wicket gate was cut in the wall, and a timber-framed watchman’s room was added above. The gaol remained until the late 19th century, after which a public weighbridge occupied the site until 1968. Volunteers restored the tower in 1968, 1991–92 and 1998, reopening the passage and adding an observation deck. The five-storey structure rises on a square plan with a cross-vaulted passageway and pointed arches. Three timbered floors contain small rectangular windows and numerous brackets that once held oriel windows. A crenellated parapet tops the building, and a stone spire stands at the centre of the platform. Unlike the town’s other gate towers, Darrtor never had an outer barbican, so the view from the top stretches straight across Saalfeld’s rooftops.