Wołek Castle

The castle stands on an elongated hillock at about 394 metres above sea level, occupying a roughly half‑oval area about 35 by 45 metres across. The defensive scheme combined two concentric stone wall circuits that follow the summit’s shape, with an outer double moat lying beyond the external enclosure. Archaeological evidence shows the inner circuit was substantial for its time, forming the core defence of the hilltop fortification.

The inner curtain was built of stone with horizontal layers of brick and bonded with lime mortar, reaching about 2.5 metres in thickness, while the outer wall was noticeably thinner. A prominent tower once stood at the north‑east corner, its footprint recorded as approximately 5.2 by 8.8 metres. A gate lay between that tower and the residential range and was approached by a drawbridge in the medieval arrangement. The stone gatehouse belongs to the second building phase, while the later campaign added a gate tower and a communication tower linked to the outer defences.

Domestic accommodation occupied the south‑east sector, where a residential building measuring roughly 5.2 by 11.6 metres had stone foundations and appears to have been partly timber framed above its base. That residence was connected to the second wall circuit by a communication tower. The site contained its own well to serve occupants in siege conditions. Excavations carried out in 1880 exposed the castle’s horseshoe‑shaped bailey and recovered movable finds including iron weapon points, fragments of clay vessels, and richly decorated floor tiles; further fieldwork took place in 1980–1985. Today the site survives as ruins, with exposed foundations, the line of the moat, and a fragment of the outer gate tower visible on the summit, and the remains are recorded in the register of monuments since 20 September 1934.