Burg Waldenfels

Malsch, Germany, Germany

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Burg Waldenfels is the ruin of a small medieval spur castle located in a forest on a 205-meter-high hill promontory about 1,450 meters south of the town of Malsch in the Karlsruhe district of Baden-Württemberg, Germany, specifically in the Waldprechtsweier district.

The castle was probably built around 1086 by the Reginbodonen family, the Counts of the Ufgau region, after Reginbodo I lost his office that year and retreated to his Malsch properties to promote land development and colonization of the area. It was a small tower castle covering less than 400 square meters, featuring a prominent square tower about 12.5 meters per side with walls at least 2.60 meters thick at the foundation, surrounded by a 1.30-meter-thick ring wall.

The castle reached its peak between 1150 and 1250, and both the castle and village of Malsch were purchased by the Herrenalb convent from the margraves in 1318. By the 19th century the castle had already become a ruin, and in 1826 it was almost completely dismantled so its stones could be used to expand the Church of St. Cyriak in Malsch. 

Today only fragments remain visible, including wall remnants in the western area, parts of the defensive neck ditch to the southeast, a small section of tower foundation measuring about 8 by 4 meters on a hill, two ramparts, scattered wall fragments, and evidence of a blacksmith's forge in what appears to have been the castle courtyard.