Burg Oberlauda

Burg Oberlauda stands on the Schloßberg above Oberlauda, a district of Lauda-Königshofen in the Main-Tauber district of Baden-Württemberg. It was once a spur castle built on a ridge, now reduced to foundations and earthworks. The site once held a larger medieval fortress, later called the Oberes Schloss to distinguish it from the nearby Unteres Schloss, a fortified tower with quoin stones and a plastered timber upper storey. The castle’s history reaches back to at least the 12th century, when the lords of Lauda shared it with the Würzburg bishop in 1169. By 1225 Gerhard von Rieneck appears as its holder, and in the 13th and early 14th centuries minor nobles from Lauda lived there. The castle served as the seat of the Lauda administrative office until it was burned by rebellious farmers on Good Friday 1525. After that, villagers gradually removed the stones for building work, a practice that continued into the mid-20th century. Today the outline of the former castle can still be traced in low earthen ramparts and buried wall lines. Archaeologists found traces of a plateau, a ring ditch and underground masonry during digs in 1880. A complete dungeon discovered in 1959 was filled with concrete, an act later criticised by local historians. Despite the loss of much fabric, the surviving foundations show well-cut stones and the old ground plan remains partly legible among the grassy banks.