Burg Neuenfels, Medieval castle ruins in Britzingen, Germany

Burg Neuenfels is a ruined spur castle on a 595.1-metre-high hill spur southeast of Britzingen, in the Müllheim district. Its rectangular core measured about 30 by 9 metres with rounded corners and had no keep. The surviving walls, up to 12 metres high, are over 2 metres thick and were reinforced wedge-like to 4.5 metres on the exposed east side. A deep neck ditch cuts off the east approach.

Built around 1300 by the Lords of Neuenfels and first mentioned in 1343, the castle was sold in 1346 to Count Imer of Strassberg, lord of Badenweiler, and then held by the Neuenfels family as a fief. It was never a military stronghold. After the last male heir sold the surrounding forest to Britzingen in 1538, the castle fell into ruin from 1540.

The castle is the setting of the legend of the white maiden and the shoemaker's apprentice, who was asked by a white woman on the ruin to redeem her in exchange for a rich treasure but lost the chance. The tale inspired Harald Gritzner's novel "Das Geheimnis der weißen Frau von Neuenfels". A 1540 Moritat tells of Knight Christoph's dog, trained to fetch meat from Britzingen, found dead with the whole household in the courtyard.

The ruin lies on a 595-metre spur reached from the Schwärze between Britzingen and Badenweiler: about 30 minutes on foot with 164 metres of climb. The site is protected on three sides by steep slopes, with the approach from the east through a deep neck ditch. Sturdy shoes are needed for the uphill path.

The viewing platform on the castle's crenellations looks out to the Swiss Jura and, on clear days, as far as the outskirts of Freiburg. The castle never had military importance; it served as a residence, and its end is tied to a 1540 murder case in which the knight Christoph, his family, servants and dog were found dead in the courtyard.