Hellmat Castle

Heimberg Castle, also locally known as Hellmat Castle or Hellmat Castle Ruin, is the remnant of a hilltop castle on the Schlossbuckel of Heimberg (350 m above sea level), near the hamlet of Herrenhölzle in the Unterheimbach district of the municipality of Bretzfeld in the Hohenlohe district (Baden-Württemberg).

Presumably built in the 13th century, the castle was the seat of the Lords of Heimberg, documented since 1253, who, however, sold it early, and parts of it came to the House of Hohenlohe from the widow of Heinrich von Böckingen. The castle was probably destroyed after 1344.

The castle area, artificially raised several meters, has a diameter of about 50 meters. A several-meter-deep neck ditch, where the road to the mountain spur now leads, secured the castle on the southwestern attack side, and ring ditches secured it on the other three sides. Wall remains indicate a curtain wall, a gatehouse, and other buildings. The remaining keep, still about 1.8 meters high, with a rare herringbone pattern (Opus spicatum), has an outer circumference of 5.5 by 5.7 meters and an inner one of 3.2 by 3.2 meters. Literature also refers to ashlar masonry.