Bädertörle and medieval City Fortification

This picturesque corner with the open wall at Bädertörle and the small bridge over the Mühlkanal is one of the most beautiful sections of the city wall. Two aspects of the medieval town can be envisaged here: the water-side fortification of the old town with only one wall (without a forewall) and the use of the water access at the Mühlkanal for the tanneries and bath houses.


Bathhouses and Tanneries

Beside the wall passage once stood the large and the small bath yards (medieval bath houses), which drew their water from the Rems. Until 1974 the street was called Badgasse (Bath Alley), since then a small bridge leads from here over the Mühlkanal out to the Erleninsel (alder island), Waiblingen's green park belt. There you will find the Kulturhaus Schwanen with its popular beer garden, the Bürgerzentrum and the Talaue green belt with indoor and outdoor swimming pools, all accessible by the Remstal cycle path. In the 18th century, tanneries were already established in front of the city wall. The inscription "IGB 1755" on a tool shed still refers to Johann Georg Bunz, founder of the tanner family Bunz's craftsman dynasty in Waiblingen. The tannery operations were later partly discontinued. In addition to the normal annual floods in spring and autumn/winter, the floods were also a constant danger here, as shown by the flood levels of March 3, 1956 and November 10, 1927.

Rems side City Fortification

No other city in Old Württemberg has such a well-preserved Wall Ring as in the former official city of Waiblingen. After the founding of the town in the 13th century, construction of a city wall with battlements began (construction time approx. 30 years). Access to the city was secured by the Beinsteiner Tor, the Fellbacher Tor and the Schmidener Tor. In addition, three smaller passages were embedded in the wall ring: Bädertörle, Tränktor and Mühl- or Kirchtor. This inner-city wall originally had a length of about 1000 meters, of which about 750 meters are still preserved. Part of the city wall here is a rampart from the Beinstein Torturm (Station 3) to the Apothekergarten (Station 7) from the second half of the 13th century. Some arrow slits still remind one of the original defence purpose. Here,where the east side of the city was protected by water, a simple wall with a covered walkway (wall height approx. 6 m) was sufficient. On the "waterless" sides, however, 6 - 12 m high walls with battlements were erected.