Burg Isikofen

Burg Isikofen stands as the ruined remains of a spur castle on a left-side cliff above the lower Lauchert valley. It sits at 646.8 metres above sea level, about 2.5 kilometres south of Jungnau, a district of Sigmaringen. The Lauchert separates the two rock outcrops where the scant traces of Isikofen and its neighbour Hertenstein still lie. Built around the year 1100 by the lords of Isikofen, the site was recorded only as a Burgstall by 1385. Today a low mound still shows fragments of the ring wall and a building’s foundations. The castle once marked the boundary of the counts of Veringen’s lands against the Scherragau. This medieval region took its name from the old word for jagged rock. The border ran from the Danube near Sigmaringen up the Lauchert to its junction with the Fehla and then along that stream to Burladingen. Places such as Harthausen still carry the old district’s name. The counts of Veringen held the land west of this line until disputes with King Rudolf of Habsburg led to ruin. Visitors find two facing rock ledges divided by the Lauchert. On the western crag the remains of Isikofen appear as low stone heaps and a short stretch of curtain wall. The eastern rock once bore Hertenstein, now vanished except for a few stones. The valley path below offers quiet walks beside the river, with views up to the cliffs where the old watchtower once stood. The surrounding farmland and wooded slopes give a sense of the strategic position the castle once commanded.