Castle Hunt - Beilstein
Sunday afternoon, and all our chores are finished! So even though it's drizzling and will be dark by 4:30, we decided to do a castle hunt.
Beilstein is designated as a "Burgruine" on the map. It's southeast of Kaiserslautern, off the 37 highway. We carefully watched for the turnout, and found it easily. After walking on forest roads for about a kilometer, we came upon the ruin, sitting on top of a hill, its view obscured by the deciduous forest that had grown up around it. (We could easily have driven but signs noted that the dirt roads were for lumber trucks only.)
Beilstein is one of those red sandstone cliff castles that are built around a rocky outcrop, like Nanstein, Blumenstein, etc. (see previous posts). It is definitely a ruin! The red sandstone finger that remains is extremely small, large enough for only a lookout tower, and there are remains of a round rock tower at the top. The castle builders carved holes into the sandstone to support the beams of the buildings around it. Now only the holes remain. A large square cut on the north side might have been a cistern. There is a new(ish) wooden pedestrian bridge connecting the hilltop with an adjacent hill, and both hills have thick rock walls showing the limits of the original building.
There is a large brass plaque from 1876 posted on the side of the sandstone proclaiming this a monument.
My book of Castles, Palaces and Antiquities of the State of Rhineland-Palatinate (2000, 2nd English edition) says that this is a Hohenstaufen castle (that is, Frederick Barbarossa), a remnant of the defensive ring around the Imperial Palace in Kaiserslautern. Exactly when it was constructed is unknown, but for sure it was in place by 1245, and references to the "Lords of Bylenstein" come up in deed books from 1184 til 1464. After that, it was apparently abandoned and was called "desolate" by 1600.
According to my calculations, it was therefore lived in for more than 200 years. Yikes! 10 generations could have called this rock their home. Now it's just a collection of reconstructed rock walls and some holes carved into the sandstone finger. And a picnic table made of massive wooden slabs that is probably less than 10 years old.
It was desolate, all right. Three huge tree root wads (10 feet in diameter) right at the entrance provided evidence of the huge windstorm in 2007 that blew over trees all over this part of the country. The standing trees were leafless, the clouds dark gray, the drizzle became rain, and the fallen leaves mixed with the reddish mud as we walked back to the car.
Piles of timber ready for pick up and tree stumps all around showed that the use of the roads by lumber trucks is ongoing. Although we didn't see any other people on our little outing, there was another car parked in the pull out, and three pink tissues had been squashed into the mud. Bright spots in the otherwise dark day.
Bet its nice in the summer, though!
Beilstein is designated as a "Burgruine" on the map. It's southeast of Kaiserslautern, off the 37 highway. We carefully watched for the turnout, and found it easily. After walking on forest roads for about a kilometer, we came upon the ruin, sitting on top of a hill, its view obscured by the deciduous forest that had grown up around it. (We could easily have driven but signs noted that the dirt roads were for lumber trucks only.)
Beilstein is one of those red sandstone cliff castles that are built around a rocky outcrop, like Nanstein, Blumenstein, etc. (see previous posts). It is definitely a ruin! The red sandstone finger that remains is extremely small, large enough for only a lookout tower, and there are remains of a round rock tower at the top. The castle builders carved holes into the sandstone to support the beams of the buildings around it. Now only the holes remain. A large square cut on the north side might have been a cistern. There is a new(ish) wooden pedestrian bridge connecting the hilltop with an adjacent hill, and both hills have thick rock walls showing the limits of the original building.
There is a large brass plaque from 1876 posted on the side of the sandstone proclaiming this a monument.
My book of Castles, Palaces and Antiquities of the State of Rhineland-Palatinate (2000, 2nd English edition) says that this is a Hohenstaufen castle (that is, Frederick Barbarossa), a remnant of the defensive ring around the Imperial Palace in Kaiserslautern. Exactly when it was constructed is unknown, but for sure it was in place by 1245, and references to the "Lords of Bylenstein" come up in deed books from 1184 til 1464. After that, it was apparently abandoned and was called "desolate" by 1600.
According to my calculations, it was therefore lived in for more than 200 years. Yikes! 10 generations could have called this rock their home. Now it's just a collection of reconstructed rock walls and some holes carved into the sandstone finger. And a picnic table made of massive wooden slabs that is probably less than 10 years old.
It was desolate, all right. Three huge tree root wads (10 feet in diameter) right at the entrance provided evidence of the huge windstorm in 2007 that blew over trees all over this part of the country. The standing trees were leafless, the clouds dark gray, the drizzle became rain, and the fallen leaves mixed with the reddish mud as we walked back to the car.
Piles of timber ready for pick up and tree stumps all around showed that the use of the roads by lumber trucks is ongoing. Although we didn't see any other people on our little outing, there was another car parked in the pull out, and three pink tissues had been squashed into the mud. Bright spots in the otherwise dark day.
Bet its nice in the summer, though!