Czchów Castle Ruins, Czchów, Poland

The history of the Czchów Castle dates back to the 13th century, when a Romanesque watchtower was built here. In the 14th century, a defensive castle was added to the tower. It became the residence of the Czchów starostas, and was destroyed in the Swedish wars of the mid-17th century. Finally, the castle lost its military importance, and was turned into a prison, which was closed in 1772, after the first partition of Poland. Currently, the only remaining parts of the complex are a 14th-century tower and foundations of the defensive wall.

References:

Wikipedia

User Reviews

Klaudiusz Dzik (3 years ago)
Bardzo fajny pomysł na rewitalizację.

Zołza Maruda (3 years ago)
Bywam czasami w Czchowie i... Hm...zobaczyć można raz lub dwa, być może będą jakieś konkretne atrakcje po skończonym remoncie. Szkoda wielka, że w samym Rynku, czyli sercu „miasta” nie ma ani jednego miejsca, gdzie można zjeść obiad. Trzeba zabrać ze sobą bułki...

Krzysztof Langiewicz (4 years ago)
Miejsce urocze przed wejściem na ścieżkę prowadzącą do wieży ładnie zagospodarowane. Na górze remont, jakieś fundamenty były to może za jakiś czas ukaże się na wzgórzu cały zamek.

Wieslaw Zabawa (4 years ago)
To kolejny obiekt w dzisiejszej Małopolsce, który kona. Może prace, które są tu prowadzone to zmienią. Oby tak się stało, bo z wielką przykrością ogląda się miejsca z wielowiekową historią skazane z różnych względów na ruinę i zapomnienie.

Joanna Latocha (4 years ago)
Picturesque Romanesque castle ruins. What's left of the original 14th century castle is a part of a tower. Apparently there are some renovation plans, although it's difficult to say when the renovation will be completed. During my visit few years back it was impossible to climb to the top of the tower (maybe it has changed...?). The place is rather quiet, not many tourists around. Not much to see just yet, but definitely worth a short visit.

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Photo from Flickr, copyright joiseyshowaa

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Broch of Gurness

The Broch of Gurness is an Iron Age broch village. Settlement here began sometime between 500 and 200 BC. At the centre of the settlement is a stone tower or broch, which once probably reached a height of around 10 metres. Its interior is divided into sections by upright slabs. The tower features two skins of drystone walls, with stone-floored galleries in between. These are accessed by steps. Stone ledges suggest that there was once an upper storey with a timber floor. The roof would have been thatched, surrounded by a wall walk linked by stairs to the ground floor. The broch features two hearths and a subterranean stone cistern with steps leading down into it. It is thought to have some religious significance, relating to an Iron Age cult of the underground.

The remains of the central tower are up to 3.6 metres high, and the stone walls are up to 4.1 metres thick. The tower was likely inhabited by the principal family or clan of the area but also served as a last resort for the village in case of an attack.

The broch continued to be inhabited while it began to collapse and the original structures were altered. The cistern was filled in and the interior was repartitioned. The ruin visible today reflects this secondary phase of the broch's use.

The site is surrounded by three ditches cut out of the rock with stone ramparts, encircling an area of around 45 metres diameter. The remains of numerous small stone dwellings with small yards and sheds can be found between the inner ditch and the tower. These were built after the tower, but were a part of the settlement's initial conception. A 'main street' connects the outer entrance to the broch. The settlement is the best-preserved of all broch villages.

Pieces of a Roman amphora dating to before 60 AD were found here, lending weight to the record that a 'King of Orkney' submitted to Emperor Claudius at Colchester in 43 AD.

At some point after 100 AD the broch was abandoned and the ditches filled in. It is thought that settlement at the broch continued into the 5th century AD, the period known as Pictish times. By that time the broch was not used anymore and some of its stones were reused to build smaller dwellings on top of the earlier buildings. Until about the 8th century, the site was just a single farmstead.

In the 9th century, a Norse woman was buried at the site in a stone-lined grave with two bronze brooches and a sickle and knife made from iron. Other finds suggest that Norse men were buried here too.

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