Burg Baach

Burg Baach stands on the Schlossberg, a spur rising ninety metres above the valley of the Zwiefalter Aach near the village of Baach. The hilltop is a quiet place, covered with grass and scattered trees, with a gentle slope on the northern side and steeper drops elsewhere. The remains lie at the southern edge of the Aach valley, south of Zwiefalten and west of Baach itself. A shallow neck ditch once crossed the narrow western approach, now little more than a flattened hollow in the ground. A low rampart still runs along the inner edge of the ditch, its crumbling stones hinting at the former wall line. The site is linked to the local lords called the Herren von Baach, first recorded in 1188 with Ulrich and later with Konrad in 1269, 1306 and 1336. By 1426 or 1429 the place appears on records as a Burgstall, a deserted castle site. Today the outline of the former stronghold is still visible as a roughly rectangular plateau about sixty metres long and fifty metres wide. A round tower is thought to have stood in the south-eastern corner, marked by a slight hollow in the ground. Scattered masonry and low walls show where the curtain wall once ran around the edge of the plateau. Visitors walk a grassy path up the gentle northern slope to reach the Burgplateau. The neck ditch and rampart can be followed on the western side, while the southern edge may once have had a narrow outer ward only five metres wide. Small stretches of the old wall survive on all sides, though no buildings remain above ground. The interior shows no clear traces of former halls or chambers, and no archaeological digs have been carried out. From the plateau there are wide views across the Aach valley towards the wooded hills beyond.