Castle Sponheim, Medieval castle in Burgsponheim, Germany.

Castle Sponheim sits on a hilltop above the Ellerbach valley, nestled between forests, meadows, and vineyards in the Bad Kreuznach district. The site today shows ruins with a surviving ring wall and round tower that remain from the original fortifications.

The castle is first recorded in two documents of 1127, when Meginhard of Sponheim was its owner and first styled himself Count of Sponheim; it became the ancestral seat of the counts. In the early 13th century it lost that role and housed comital ministeriales. In 1437 it passed to the Margraves of Baden and the Counts of Veldenz. A Spanish siege under Ambrogio Spinola in 1620 may have caused some destruction.

The ring wall and round tower show features of medieval defensive architecture common to this region. Visitors can still see these preserved structures and understand how castles like this functioned in the Middle Ages.

The castle connects to hiking trails and a cycle route built on the former railway line between Bad Kreuznach and Winterburg. This setting makes it easy to visit the site on foot or by bike.

The keep, built of rough-hewn stone and roughly dated to the mid-12th century, stands 22 metres high and can be climbed as a viewing tower; its platform gives a view over Burgsponheim. Towers with this rough-hewn masonry are found only south of the Nahe.