Places to visit

Valėnai Hillfort

Valėnai hillfort, also known as Pilalė, Raudonkalnis, set up on the right bank of the rivulet Babrūnė, on the mound in Dangė valley. In older literature it is also called Cartai hillfort because Cartai (in German, Zarten) village was situated at the foot of the hillfort. The mould is a former part of the edge of the bank of the river Danė in the northern part of which Anduliai hillfort was set up. Valėnai hillfort dates back to AC. – beginning of the second millenium. An intensive layer of burning and fragments of coal noticed in the molehill lands suggest that in antiquity wooden fortifications destroyed by a fire were standing on the mound. Some slag, shivers of cups, pieces of mine-waste was found in a 0.2 ha area arable land which is to the east from the hillfort. This shows that there was an ancient settlement on the right bank of the river Babrūnė, near the castle. Presumably, it was the place of Kretinga castle and Egliškiai. In front of Valėnai hillfort, on the other bank of the river Dangė, there is Šlikiai which in German was called Adlig Crottingen. The hillfort was very destroyed by plowing. It is overgrown with deciduous trees, the field seduces.