Schlierbach is a municipality in the Göppingen district of Baden-Württemberg, set between the Fils valley and the Teck foothills in the landscape the town calls home between Teck and Fils. On 30 September 2026 it counted 3,876 residents across 10.97 square kilometres. A historical centre, working businesses, orchards and wooded walking routes sit close together here: Schlierbach is not a preserved museum village, but a lived-in community where the stories of farming, textile work and modern small-town life remain visible in the same streets.

Early traces and the first written record

The municipality’s historical account traces human activity in the area back to 800–450 BC. It identifies 16 burial mounds in Bergwald as evidence of Hallstatt-period people, then describes a broad sequence from Celtic to Roman and Alemannic presence. Those archaeological traces establish a much older human landscape, not an exact founding date for today’s settlement. The first written mention of Schlierbach comes later: in 1275, the name appears in the liber decimationis, a medieval tax register. The town belonged to the dukes of Teck in the thirteenth century, became Württembergian in 1381, and has been part of Landkreis Göppingen since 1938.

Some local history must be handled with care. The municipality says its archive was probably destroyed in fires during 1634–38 and again in 1945, leaving indirect evidence for several buildings and events. The name “Klösterle” is attached to one old house on Hölzerstraße, but the town’s own survey says there is no secure evidence that a medieval monastic community existed here. Tree-ring research dates its timber to around 1536; the nickname is not proof of a monastery.

From flax and handwork to a textile town

For centuries, agriculture shaped Schlierbach’s calendar and its markets. Flax-growing also supported about 60 local weavers before industrialisation. In 1876 August Auwärter opened a hosiery factory in the village; the municipal history calls it Württemberg’s first hosiery-knitting workshop. It created paid work locally, especially for women. By the 1920s, the Auwärter-Hilt firm employed around 200 people across its main site and branch workshops, and produced roughly 30,000 pairs of stockings and socks a year. After wartime damage, production resumed in 1945. The company closed in 2006 and the former factory buildings were cleared in 2010; the “Alte Strumpffabrik” housing area now marks the site.

That transition did not turn Schlierbach into a single-industry town. The municipality’s current company directory includes manufacturers, craft businesses, transport, retail and services; examples range from electric drives and controls to garden furniture and land machinery. Fruit-growing is also part of the surrounding economy and landscape: the town continues to support local orchard fruit and young standard trees. These are examples rather than a claim that any one sector dominates current employment.

A walk through buildings that changed their purpose

The historic village walk is a useful way to read those changes. Its central landmark is the late-Gothic Protestant Georgskirche, built between 1495 and 1501. The date 1498 survives above a doorway inside the tower; the church’s oldest bells were cast in 1499 and 1508. The route also points to the former rectory, an old mill, the Widumhof and several inns whose buildings record how parish, farming, trade and hospitality once fitted into the village. Some locations are now altered or rebuilt, so the walk is as much about reading the street plan as entering historic interiors.

At Hölzerstraße, the house known as the Klösterle adds an instructive correction to local lore. Its timbers were cut around 1536, but no reliable document confirms a medieval convent here. Further along, the former Farrenstall offers another change of use. Built in 1938 as a municipal bull stable, it became unnecessary when livestock practices changed. Between 1988 and 1990 it was converted into the Bürgerhaus, with club rooms, a civic hall, a senior meeting space and the Bürgerkeller restaurant. Check the restaurant’s current opening hours before planning a meal.

The Schlierbach stream has also been reshaped by practical history. After repeated flooding, an ecological reconstruction between 1987 and 1994 widened and stabilised the stream bed, added crossings and planted the banks. A walk beside the water now connects parts of the centre while showing how the municipality has made room for the stream instead of simply building over it. The lakeside area hosts seasonal community events; the municipal calendar, for example, listed an open-air cinema there in 2026. Schlierbach’s Advent nativity walk is another recent local initiative: the 2025 edition displayed more than 75 scenes between late November and Epiphany, but future dates should be checked rather than assumed.

Orchards, woodland and getting around

For a longer outing, the municipality recommends the Jubiläumsweg, a walking route that includes a forest-learning trail. The county-verified route is about 7.2 kilometres, takes roughly 1 hour 45 minutes at a moderate pace and gains about 49 metres. The Schlierbacher Runde leads from town through Maienwald, Rosswälden, Rossrain and Lindenhof before returning. Cyclists can use regional routes through the Voralb orchard country, including the Obstroute. Route surfaces and conditions vary, so check the current map and weather before setting out.

Schlierbach is connected by bus rather than rail. VVS line 914 runs between Göppingen and Kirchheim unter Teck via Schlierbach, Albershausen and Uhingen; line 924 connects toward Ebersbach and Bad Boll. From these towns, travellers can reach regional rail services. The municipality accepts VVS tickets and offers a local day ticket, but fares and routes can change; use the live VVS planner for the travel date. By car, the local road network links Schlierbach with the same nearby centres. A visitor can make a satisfying day of the historic walk, a woodland or orchard route and a meal in the village, with the surrounding towns close enough for a wider excursion.

Useful links for visitors