Burg Westernhagen

A ruined medieval lowland castle stands in the Rangental valley south-east of Berlingerode in the Eichsfeld region of Thuringia. Built on a low hill at 250 metres above sea level, the site lies between the Zehnsberg foothills and the Birkenberg spur, separated from the slope by a wide ditch. A hollow lane climbs from the Eichbach stream, a small tributary of the Hahle, leading up to the former stronghold.

The castle was probably raised by the Westernhagen knights in the 12th century and repaired again in 1288. Records from 1300 and 1330 mention Hermannuss von Westerhayn as lord of ‘Hus zum Hagen’. After its destruction in the Peasants’ War of 1525 the ruins were never rebuilt; the family later moved into manor houses in nearby villages. Traces of the old defences remain: a roughly 32 by 20 metre mound is crossed by a right-angled ditch, and a seven-metre-wide trench still separates the mound from the hillside.

Close by once lay the village of Westernhagen, first recorded with a church dedicated to Saint Catherine in 1370. By 1420 the settlement counted 28 farmsteads, but both village and castle were abandoned after 1525. The site is now farmland and woodland, yet the earthworks and ditches still mark the vanished stronghold.