burgruine neuenberg

The construction history of the Rocca proofs it existed in the 12th century castle, it was mentioned first 1433 in a charter, the stronghold belonged to the assets of the domain of the landlord and was thus owned by the counts von Berg, 1273 these counts pledged and pawned the tutelage of Gummersbach (in which also Castle Gimborn belonged) to the counts von der Mark. The Leppe River became thus the border between Berg and Mark, thus Neuenberg serving as border stronghold, it was in sovereign possession of the counts von Berg. During the thirty years war, as it was the seat of amt Steinbach, it was in 1640 by the Sweden conquered and destroyed, due to the fact that it was seriously damaged and was unusefull to serve in future as a stronghold was decided in 1662 to be demolished, the Duke got damages of 4,000 Reichsthalers, in 1691 all demoliotion-work had already been carried out by local farmers. Today there are still parts of its outer walls, its entrance and defensive-canals. A short road leads a bit further to the Zwergenloch, a seven-metre-long limestone- and stalactite cave. The ruins can be reached as follows: park your car near the houses per address "Zur Zwerghöhle", hence follow the path (leading past these houses), cross the wooden bridge (direction Zwerghöhl). Hence linea recta climb the mountain (does not seem high from afar, but trust me, it is higher than it seems), if you see the picnic-shed on your left side you’re almost there.