Reuschberg (Spessart) is a hill in the

Spessart Spessart () is a ''Mittelgebirge'', a range of low wooded mountains, in the States of Bavaria and Hesse in Germany. It is bordered by the Vogelsberg, Rhön and Odenwald. The highest elevation is the Geiersberg (Spessart), Geiersberg at 586 metre ...

range, located in the Landkreis Aschaffenburg, part of the Franconia region of

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. It has an elevation of 415 metres. The wooded hill is located mostly in the

unincorporated area An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

of '. At its foot lies the town of

Schöllkrippen Schöllkrippen is a market community in the Aschaffenburg (district), Aschaffenburg district in the ''Regierungsbezirk'' of Lower Franconia (''Unterfranken'') in Bavaria, Germany and seat of the ''Municipal association, Verwaltungsgemeinschaft'' ...

. To the south is the valley of the Höllenbach, to the north that of the Kleiner Laudenbach, both of which flow into the Kahl. There is a transmission mast on the hill, operated by Vodafone, located on the slope at an elevation of around 385 metres. Near the hilltop, there is a

circular rampart A circular rampart () is an embankment built in the shape of a circle that was used as part of the defences for a military fortification, hill fort or refuge, or was built for religious purposes or as a place of gathering. The period during which ...

, known as ' or ''Altenburg'', with remains of both earth and masonry walls, long thought to date to the

La Tène period LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second most populous city in the United States of America. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note *"L.A.", a song by Elliott Smi ...

. However, excavations in 2005 indicate that it most likely is a 10th-century

refuge castle A refuge castleCreighton, Oliver (2015). ''Early European Castles''. Bloomsbury. or refuge fort (, also ''Fluchtburg'', ''Volksburg'', ''Bauernburg'' or ''Vryburg'') is a castle-like defensive location, usually surrounded by Rampart (fortification ...

, with some elements added in the 11th or 12th century. Over the centuries, locals have used the fortification as a source of construction materials, reducing the remains to just foundations. The ', a former monastery, lies on the lower slopes, just beneath the forest fringe.

References

Hills of Bavaria Aschaffenburg (district) Hills of the Spessart {{Bavaria-geo-stub