Hradsko

A hamlet on a cliff-edged plateau above the Pšovka valley, on the site of a great early-medieval stronghold — likely the Canburg besieged by Charlemagne's Franks in 805.

The few houses of Hradsko stand on a plateau defended on three sides by sandstone cliffs above the Pšovka valley — a natural fortress, and people used it as one for three thousand years. A hillfort stood here in the late Bronze Age; the great Slavic stronghold built over it at the start of the 9th century is identified by archaeologists with Canburg, the fortress the Frankish annals record Charlemagne’s army besieging — unsuccessfully — during the campaign into Bohemia in 805. The little church of St George in the middle of the site stands where its 11th-century predecessor served what was then a densely settled stronghold; a Slavic burial ground was found beside it.

Nothing dramatic remains above ground — a rampart line across the neck of the plateau — but the place reads clearly once you know, and the views over the Kokořínsko valleys explain the choice of site.