Conical Mound Fort in Stare Tarnowice

The conical mound fort in Stare Tarnowice is a late medieval knightly stronghold from the 14th-15th century, the original seat of the owners of the village of Tarnowice, which gave rise to the town of Tarnowskie Góry. It is one of the few such monuments in Upper Silesia and is listed in the register of archaeological monuments.

What the mound looks like

It takes the form of an oval mound about 2.7 m high and 17 m in diameter at the base on the north-south axis and 13.5 m on the east-west axis. It is surrounded by a moat that is now hardly visible, once 207 cm deep and 5 m wide, now about a metre deep and 5.5-6 m wide. The whole complex covers about 10 ares. At the top grows a small-leaved lime 20.5 m tall with a trunk circumference of 5.12 m, whose age is estimated at 300-350 years. It was first given the status of a natural monument in 1955.

What archaeologists established

In 1983 research was carried out by a team from the Upper Silesian Museum in Bytom. It turned out that, as a result of earlier alterations, the hill had been reduced by more than half, and the central and southern parts had been levelled, with part of the moat filled in with earth. In the second trench, at a depth of 120 cm, a burnt wooden structure, daub, a stone foundation and fragments of 14th-century pottery were found. The structure was destroyed by fire, which probably led the Włodek family to abandon the mound. The new owners, the Wrochem family, built a Renaissance castle at the western end of the village; today it is Stare Tarnowice Castle, about 700 metres away.

The bones found in the mound are explained in two ways: as victims of the typhus epidemic of 1848, as the entries in the parish death register state, or as a trace of the presence of Swedish troops during the Thirty Years' War. It has also not been ruled out that the lime tree was planted in 1683 to commemorate the passage of John III Sobieski.

Practical information

• Location: Tarnowskie Góry, Stare Tarnowice district, in a wooded area between Kardynała Stefana Wyszyńskiego, Mieczysława Niedziałkowskiego and Repecka streets.
• Next to it stand the Church of St Martin from 1902, a Gothic church from around 1400 and parish buildings.
• In the town you can also see the Museum in Tarnowskie Góry.