Burg Schwärzenberg, Medieval castle in Roding, Germany.

Burg Schwärzenberg, also called Schwarzenberg, is the ruin of a hilltop castle at 556 m on a quartz rock of the Pfahl ridge west of Strahlfeld, near Roding. Only parts of the residential tower with its latrine oriel and large window openings survive. The rampart and the ditch that cut the castle off on the east side still show the extent of the former outer bailey.

Built probably in the 13th century on land of the Bishop of Bamberg by the lords of Fronau, the castle was first documented in 1306, when Andreas von Fronau held it as a fief. From 1390 Peter Fronauer raided Regensburg merchants and in 1400 sold half the castle to Hans Zenger von Zangenfels; the Zenger family later acquired all of it. In 1520 Georg von Murach inherited it, and a 1606 deed already called it decayed; the Thirty Years' War destroyed it for good. Securing work and excavations followed from 1999 to 2002.

The name Schwärzenberg, also recorded as Schwarzenberg, comes from the quartz rock of the Pfahl ridge on which the ruin stands. Local tradition holds that counterfeiters once operated inside the small core castle. Since 1999 the site has been protected as a nature reserve, a geotope and a natural monument, and the former quarry southwest of the ruin is likewise listed as a geotope.

The ruin stands on a quartz crag of the Pfahl at 556 m, west of Strahlfeld in the municipality of Roding. Access is on foot; the summit area is a protected nature reserve, geotope and natural monument, so stay on the paths. Parts of the residential tower, the rampart and the eastern moat are visible; the terrain is uneven.

The core castle once housed counterfeiters, as local tradition recorded. Today only part of the residential tower survives, with its latrine oriel and large window openings. The summit is protected as nature reserve 372.011, geotope 372R022 and natural monument ND-03278, and the quarry southwest of the ruin is geotope 372A089.