Isenburg Castle

Isenburg Castle is a Romanesque hilltop castle and was very generously and spaciously laid out. It is the second oldest castle in the Neuwied district. The steep hilltop on which it was built is surrounded on three sides by the Saynbach and Iserbach and connected to the Ebenfelder Höhe in the north by a narrow saddle.

Its extent was approximately 70 meters in north-south direction and about 30 meters in east-west direction. It was separated into a northern and a southern part by a transverse wall. The keep was not, as usual, on the attack side (in the north), but in the southwest corner on a rock spur. From here, the Sayn Valley could be well monitored in both directions. Its floor plan is a square with sides of 9 meters. Above the strongly 2-meter-thick masonry of the vaulted basement, parts of the north and east walls of the second and third floors still rise. The tower must have had a height of 20 to 25 meters. The still visible high entrance at about 6 meters height led to the first upper floor; below it, there was a round-arched entrance also to the basement.

In the 13th century, there were four residential houses here: the Isenburg or old house, the Kobernhaus, the Haus Wied, and the Frauen- or Runkelsche Haus. The Frauenhaus was also referred to as Haus Grenzau. The keep, gates, and bridges were used jointly. Of these houses, especially on the west side, wall remains, some over 10 meters high, with gables, windows, consoles, etc., are still preserved. Under the largest, apparently burned-down house, there was a barrel-vaulted cellar, which largely collapsed only in the 1930s.

The settlement at the foot of Isenburg Castle was a castle hamlet of the same name and had town rights or the status of a privileged place. However, a town foundation did not materialize, as the valley location of the place offered no possibilities for expansion.

Already at the beginning of the 14th century, the castle hamlet was fortified. The fortification extended in a considerable radius around the castle and valley and not only protected the village but also served the castle as an advanced security. It consisted of a wall and a ditch, partly perhaps only of dense thickets, and had four gates. One of the gates, the Alte Porz (Old Gate), located in the village center directly on the B 413, is still one of Isenburg's landmarks today and has housed a local history museum since 2008. It was built as an outer protective gate at the castle ascent. This gatehouse has a pointed-arched gate opening, which, covered by beams, supports a half-timbered structure whose gable roof is adorned with a small bell tower. On one side, the stump of what was probably an original round tower, built of rubble stone, leans against it. Possibly, such a tower was also present on the opposite side. An attached half-timbered house probably served as the dwelling for the guards. This gatehouse was restored in 1959 and is in good structural condition. The second gate is the Schildpforte (Shield Gate) above the cemetery near the parish church, on the old path over the Ebenfeld to Kleinmaischeid. It is still almost in its original state. It is a square tower with sides of 4.5 meters and a height of 9 meters. It was three-storied and has a pointed-arched gate opening.