Dachswanger Mill

Overview

The district of Dachswangen finally became a part of Umkirch in 1924. Previously, the estate had belonged to the state of Baden as it was owned by Stephanie of Baden. Baron Friedrich of Kageneck had bought the Dachswangen castle estate from the governors of Alten Sumerau and Prassberg in 1766. In around the 15th century, when the Dachswangen estate belonged to one of the Falkenstein lines, the barony of Dachswangen was formed, and Waltershofen was a part of it. Back then, there were about eight buildings, one of which was the mill. The mill was based on a previous 12th-century version belonging to the de Tahswanc family, originally retainers of the Zähringers. Back then, the building was a moated castle built on wooden piles. But more recent investigations suggest that the building had a predecessor, possibly a ‘fortified house’ known as a ‘motte’. There are still some remains of the moated castle in evidence. This means the mill is a converted moated castle, where a castle is defined in the traditional sense as a fortified house.