Burg Niederhaus

The castle occupies the western end of a rocky ridge and presents as a medieval hilltop stronghold enclosed by a conspicuously deep, double ditch system. Stone work throughout the site is largely of squared blocks cut from suevite, with some more roughly finished bossed ashlars incorporated. A preserved farmstead lies to the northeast, and between that yard and the ruin the footprint of an outer bailey survives where remains of a gate were uncovered in 1978. A modern bridge now spans the outer neck ditch and leads toward the castle interior.

A slender defensive tower, the bergfried, stands at the core of the ruin. Its foundations are ascribed to the 12th century while the tower’s present form probably dates to the 13th century. The ground plan measures roughly 6.5 by 6.5 metres and the surviving height is about 23 metres after roughly seven metres were removed for safety. Walls at ground level are about 1.70 metres thick. The original high entrance faced south; today an entrance opens at ground level. The masonry of the tower is finished ashlar in suevite, and some dressed blocks with projecting faces remain visible.

The main residential hall, or palas, survives as a three‑storey range attached to the bergfried, with traces of a former fourth floor. Its dimensions are approximately 29 by 13.6 metres, and the wall masonry principally belongs to the 13th and 14th centuries, matching the tower’s later phases. Access to the palas was controlled by a separate three‑storey stair tower set about four metres in front of the palace’s west wall inside the courtyard. A drawbridge could be laid from the palas to that stair tower so the third storey served as the principal entrance; the third floor contained the heated private chamber (kemenate). Upper levels show many window openings that were altered in later periods.

Beyond the palas, passage leads into the inner courtyard, which was once closed by an inner gate; that gate no longer stands. The courtyard is terminated by the remains of a small gatehouse that formerly gave access to the adjoining rear residential building known as the “Hintere Haus.” The ruins of that rear dwelling abut the main enclosure and represent the earliest fortified residential tower at the site. A 1619 floor plan records a ground‑floor stable, a first‑floor lord’s apartment with a small internal battlement on the east and part of the south side leading to a small parlor, a kitchen, a larger parlor and a main chamber, and a second upper floor with two equal servant rooms. Originally the first upper floor was reached by ladder; a spiral stair tower was added in the early 13th century and survives only in fragments.

On the south side stands the water tower, constructed of the same ashlar suevite stone and originally much taller than its present height of about eight metres. Water could be drawn via the wall walk, and contemporary accounts link this tower to the 1633 entry by Swedish troops after a breach was made through it. The overall ensemble of towers, halls, gatehouse and ditches shows the successive building phases from the 12th through the 14th centuries, later repairs after wartime damage, and subsequent alterations. The ruin has been stabilised repeatedly in 1868, 1901, 1985 and 2006, a late‑19th‑century plaque is set into the ring wall, and comparisons with mid‑19th‑century engravings indicate the structure’s visible substance has changed little over the last century and a half.