Brada

A 438 m hill above Brada-Rybníček north of Jičín — scant traces of a 13th-century castle, an 1891 memorial cross to the Battle of Jičín, and one of the best views over the Jičín basin.

Brada is the southern gatepost of the Prachov corner of the Český ráj: a 438 m hill rising straight from the fields above the village of Brada-Rybníček, 5 km north of Jičín. An early-Gothic castle stood on its rocky top from the mid-13th century — Načerad of Brada is recorded here between 1241 and 1263 — but it lost its importance early and was already listed as desolate when Mikuláš Trčka of Lípa bought it in 1500. Only faint traces survive, and sandstone quarrying later ate into part of the site.

What draws walkers up today is the summit plateau: an oak cross with statues of Saints Peter and Paul, raised in 1891 on the initiative of Count Ervín Šlik as a memorial to the 1866 Battle of Jičín fought on these slopes, and a wide view over the Jičín basin — Trosky and the Prachovské skály to the north-west, Zebín‘s cone to the south-east. A pension with a restaurant sits at the foot of the hill in the village.