Burgstelle Tiefenbach

The Burgstelle Tiefenbach is a ruined high-medieval lowland castle of the motte type, three kilometres south-west of Dettingen unter Teck. It stands on a gentle south-facing slope at 392 metres above sea level, beside a small tributary of the Tiefenbach stream. The site sits within the Tiefenbachtal nature-protection area, where the Heusteige-Bach meets the main valley. The castle was built in the 13th century by Ritter Heinrich called Kiver and belonged to the local Tiefenbach family of ministeriales. In 1377 Graf Eberhard the Greiner granted its rights to Johann von Hochdorf, yet it disappears from records before 1450. Archaeologists have found traces of ore-washing and medieval farmsteads around the hill, linking the fortress to iron mining and land clearance in the region. Today only low earthworks remain: a roughly rectangular mound about thirty-seven by thirty metres, surrounded by dry ditches and a smaller eastern trench. A winding path climbs from the south through the defences to the summit, where fragments of brick and tile suggest former timber halls with tiled roofs. A small outer bailey is thought to have served as the farmyard, and nearby a medieval dam still holds water in what was once a fishpond.