Lower Castle Talheim

The Lower Castle in Talheim, in the Heilbronn district in northern Baden-Württemberg, is a historic manor house that emerged from one of the three medieval castles in the town. The complex has been owned by the municipality of Talheim since 1985 and is currently used by them as a crèche.

In Talheim, whose ownership was divided into various co-heir shares in the Middle Ages, there were once three castles: The Upper Castle directly north above the town, and further north, on the current northern edge of the town on a mountain spur above the Schozach valley, the Ehrenberg Castle and the Lower Castle, side by side.

Due to Romanesque structural characteristics, the origin of the Lower Castle is dated to the Staufer period. Its builders and early inhabitants are unknown. The complex was first mentioned in 1415, when Swigger Sturmfeder enfeoffed half of the complex to Count Eberhard III of Württemberg and was enfeoffed with it in 1417. The other half remained Sturmfeder allodial property. In 1453, Hans von Frauenberg, the husband of Ursula Sturmfeder, received the fief. In 1518, Eberhard von Frauenberg also acquired the Sturmfeder half. Due to the former ownership of the Lords of Frauenberg, the complex is also referred to as Frauenberg Manor. Via the Lords of Sperberseck and the Barons of Racknitz, the complex came into the possession of the Barons of Gemmingen.

Through Philipp von Gemmingen, husband of a born von Racknitz, the Lower Castle was renovated in the Baroque style in 1766/67. Above the main entrance, a Gemmingen-Racknitz alliance coat of arms from the time of this renovation is preserved. During the renovation, the last remaining stones of the neighboring Ehrenberg Castle, which had been used as a quarry since the 17th century, were removed, and its footprint subsequently merged into the castle park of the Lower Castle.

In 1833, the Gilmer family acquired the property and lived there until after the Second World War. The castle park was redesigned in its current form by the Gilmer family around 1900. It contains a gazebo with columns from Heilbronn's Kilianskirche and a spring house where several springs are collected.

In 1985, the municipality of Talheim acquired the property and operated a kindergarten there; later, the building was temporarily rented to a company. It now houses the Talheim crèche.