Wörth Castle
| Schlösschen Wörth | |
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| Schlössli Wörth | |
Rheinfall, the Rhein river and Schloss Laufen as seen from the Wörth Castle
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Location within Canton of Schaffhausen
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| Former names | Burg im Fischerhölzli |
| General information | |
| Status | Restaurant, shop, fast food point, Rhein boat terminal |
| Architectural style | Water castle |
| Classification | Historic monument |
| Town or city | Neuhausen am Rheinfall |
| Country | Switzerland |
| Coordinates | 47°40′37″N 8°36′49″E / 47.676838°N 8.61363°E |
| Construction started | 11th century |
| Completed | 1348 |
| Renovated | 1836 |
| Owner | Canton of Schaffhausen |
| Known for | Rheinfall, former customs station of Kloster Allerheiligen Schaffhausen |
The Wörth Castle is a fortification in the Swiss municipality of Neuhausen am Rheinfall in the Canton of Schaffhausen.
The water castle is located at the Rheinfall, built on a small island in the Rhein river at the municipality of Neuhausen am Rheinfall in the Canton of Schaffhausen, opposite of the Laufen Castle in the canton of Zürich. The Schlössli (twee for German Schloss, meaning castle) owes its name to the location on a small island, washed by the water of the Rheinfall, which used to be known as Werd, meaning literally a river island.
Wörth was first mentioned in the 13th century AD, serving up to the middle of the 19th century as a major transhipment point on the east-west trade route, that led from Lake Constance and Basel, and was interrupted by the Rheinfall waterfalls.
The present castle was built in 1348 AD, according to the excavations by the archaeological team of the Canton of Schaffhausen in 2004. Like the predecessor building, which was built in the mid-11th century as Burg im Fischerhölzli, it served as a customs house and hat to secure the area, were the goods were transferred to evade the Rheinfall. Earliest owner of the Habsurg fief were the Herren von Jestetten, followed by the Schultheiss of Randenburg (1291) and the Herren von Fulach (1422), and in 1429 by the Kloster Allerheiligen Schaffhausen. After the monastery's abolition in 1524, Wörth was a department (German: Amt) of the city of Schaffhausen.
In the late 1790s, a so-called Gertzler was the custodian of the then Schlösschen Wörth. It was given as a so-called "Schupf-Lehn" (fief) by the Kloster Allerheiligen Schaffhausen along with the salmon fisheries, customs, vineyard, forest etc. The Gertzler moved the customs for the monastery and had to deliver 2/3 of the salmon catch. For subsistence, he was allowed to fell timber out of the forest, and had to pay a lease of 30 Thaler per year for the use of the vineyard and the fields. The term "Schlupf-Lehn" derives from the Swiss German word for "slide out", as the feudal hereditary could be revoked if the administrator did not meet its obligations to the monastery.
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