Schloss Mühlgrub, Pfarrkirchen bei Bad Hall

Pfarrkirchen bei Bad Hall, Schloss Mühlgrub in Pfarrkirchen bei Bad Hall, Austria, began as a medieval manorial seat established by local noble families in the lands governed by Kremsmünster Monastery. The place is first recorded in 1299 under the name Grub and functioned as the residence of the Asperger family, who held it as a fief from the monastery. Its origins as a freed manor in the late 13th century link the site to the regional pattern of monastic landholding and noble tenancy that shaped local governance in the Middle Ages.

In 1415 the site passed by inheritance and purchase to Hans Mühlwanger, after which the residence took on the name Mühlgrub. Under the Mühlwanger family the building was transformed into a Renaissance-style castle, marking a shift from a feudal manor to a fortified, representative dwelling in the late medieval to early modern period. This remodeling established the basic form that later owners would inherit and alter.

Ownership changed hands repeatedly during the 16th and 17th centuries. In 1529 the estate was sold to Hanns Greimatschmied, and in 1544 it passed to Hieronymus Prändl of Weissenbach. Six years later the property transferred to the Wuecherer family. Christoph Strutz acquired the site in 1601 from Georg Wuecherer. In 1615 Hans Fenzl of Steyr succeeded as owner. In 1633 the property entered the von Katzianer family through the marriage of Elisabeth Fenzl to Wolfgang Jakob von Katzianer. In 1658 Siegmund Ferdinand von Katzianer sold the lordship to Veit von Gera, who died that same year. The following year, 1659, the estate became the possession of Schlierbach Abbey, which retained ownership for over two centuries until 1876.

After 1876 private ownership resumed when Gottlieb and Anna Pepöck purchased the property. Their successors, under Hans Haager, established a brewery on the grounds in 1891, giving the site a notable industrial use that continued into the 20th century. During the Second World War the castle suffered heavy damage, and one of the flanking towers was not reconstructed after the conflict. In the 1970s a bottle-filling plant for the soft drink known as the “Schartner Bombe” was installed on the site and was described at the time as the world’s largest bottle-filling facility. The brewery operation closed in 1986. The property is today held by the company Country Home Style.