Sporkenburg The Sporkenburg is a late medieval castle ruin about one kilometre south of Eitelborn in the district of Westerwaldkreis in the German state of Rhineland - Palatinate . Location . The ruins of the spur castle lie within the parish of the village of Eitelborn in the Westerwald hills above the " L " 329 between Bad Ems and Arzbach . Located in the middle of the forest , the Sporkenburg is not easy to find . The easiest option is to follow the signs along the castle path ( " Burgweg " ) into the woods from the eastern exit of the village of Eitelborn aus ( " Erlenweg " , near the cemetery ) . Pass through the barrier and take the right hand path from the crosstracks which leads gently downhill . Alternatively take the ascent from the L 329 from where the castle can be seen above the valley . The ruins are not managed and are freely accessible at any time . Layout . The tower castle ( " Turmburg " ) is located on a roughly rectangular hill spur above the stream of Emsbach . The spur drops steeply away to the west , south and east . To the north the castle is protected by a length of ditch ( " Halsgraben " ) . The outermost defences and the ward between the two curtain walls ( " Zwinger " ) have almost completely disappeared . The inner ward ( " Kernburg " ) is 35 metres long by 18 metres wide . It does not have a bergfried . On the north side the castle has a five - storey , slightly angled shield wall , reinforced with bartizan s , that has a height of almost 20 metres . In the western section of the shield wall is the entrance to the inner ward . On the south side of the heavily built - up inner ward is the " Palas " with its Great Hall , whose outside walls have survived . The eastern part of the inner ward has been completely removed . History . The Lower Engersgau was probably enfeoffed to the lords of the Electorate of Trier under Archbishop Poppo ( 1016 – 1047 ) . From this estate , Archbishop Engelbert ( 1079 – 1101 ) gifted the village of " Dezerhaid " to the Benedictine Abbey of St . Matthew . In the late 13th century the settlement is recorded as a fief in the possession of Emmerich of Andernach and Henry of Lahnstein . They began work on constructing a castle . The castle was destroyed , however , by Count Otto of Nassau , the advocate ( " Vogt " ) of Kurtrier . Whereupon Henry of Lahnstein transferred his rights to Dezerhaid to Henry II of Helfenstein . Henry II of Helfenstein had the Sporkenburg rebuilt , probably not on the old site , in the year 1310 . He assigned it to the Archbishop of Trier Baldwin ( 1307 – 1354 ) as a fief . The castle developed into the centre of the lordship of " Helfenstein - Sporkenburg " . In 1515 John of Helfenstein sold the castle to John and Quyrin of Nassau ( not to be confused with the counts of Nassau ) . In the deed the castle was described as " vast buwefellig " ( " almost ruined " ) . In 1604 the castle went from the lords of Nassau to the " von Metternich " family . It was destroyed in 1635 by the French during the Thirty Years ' War . State chancellor Prince of Metternich sold the ruins in 1811 . Its ownership transferred in 1900 to Prussia and in 1948 to Rhineland - Palatinate . In 1967 the State Office for Cultural Heritage began a gradual restoration of the remaining remnants of the walls .