Castle in the Kluczwoda Valley

On a limestone crag in the Kluczwoda Valley, between Wielka Wieś and Biały Kościół, stand the modest remains of a castle that lasted only a few decades. It was built at the start of the 14th century, and by the middle of that century part of its walls had collapsed – at which point its owners, the Syrokomla family, began building a new castle in nearby Korzkiew.

A short history

The castle was most likely built in the first quarter of the 14th century as the fortified seat of the Syrokomla family, lords of nearby Biały Kościół. It may have been their main residence and the administrative centre of their large estates, although medieval records never mention it. Its end is linked to a structural disaster: the western and north-western sections of the curtain wall collapsed. This may have happened before 1352, when Jan of Syrokomla, a deputy judge of Kraków, bought Korzkiew hill to build a new family castle there. The stronghold above the Kluczwoda was abandoned in the mid-14th century.

What the castle looked like

Built of local limestone, it occupied the flattened summit of the crag – an irregular, elongated oval at 342 m above sea level. On the west, facing the valley, an almost vertical rock face protected it. Its main element was a curtain wall 1.2–1.3 m thick, running along the edge of the rock and enclosing an area of about 45 × 10 m. The entrance was in the eastern wall, and in the north-eastern corner stood a small residential tower measuring 3.3 × 3.9 m, with two or three storeys. The lower, southern part of the castle was linked to the higher, northern part by steps cut into the rock. At the foot of the crag, on the east side, an earth rampart enclosed a small horseshoe-shaped outer bailey.

What you see today

Only modest stone relics remain on top of the crag known as Zamczysko or Zamkowa Skała (Castle Rock), which rises above a small meadow with a stream. The Kluczwoda Valley is about 6 km long and is one of eight valleys in the Kraków Valleys Landscape Park. Below the Mączne Skały rocks lies a nature reserve protecting oak-hornbeam woodland, Carpathian beech forest and martagon lilies. A curiosity: during the partitions of Poland the Austrian–Russian border ran along the stream, and reconstructed border posts stand at the entrance to the upper valley.

Tripto tip

Entry to the castle site is free. Allow about an hour for the crag and a short walk along the valley floor, or half a day if you add the Wierzchowska Górna Cave – the longest show cave in the Kraków-Częstochowa Upland, in the upper part of the valley. The best view of the upper valley is from the Mączne Skały rocks on the eastern slope. The black trail that once ran the length of the valley was closed after the landowner fenced off the entrance from Gacki, so plan your walk from the Biały Kościół side or follow the blue trail from Bolechowice.