A hillfort of the Wolinians from the 10th-12th century on Gardzka Kępa in the Dziwna Strait, with the outline of the ramparts still visible and a bird colony.
The hillfort is on Gardzka Kępa, an island in the Dziwna Strait near the village of Połchowo, in Kamień Pomorski municipality. In the 10th-12th century a stronghold stood here, attributed to the Wolinian tribe. It lay on the water route linking two strongholds important to them: Wolin and Kamień Pomorski.
The outline of the ramparts is visible on the ground. In 1846 fragments of Slavic pottery were found on the island. The German name of the island, Burgwall, derives from this stronghold, and the Polish name was introduced officially in 1950. The hillfort is an archaeological site in a zone of full archaeological and conservation protection, so no development of any kind is permitted here.
Gardzka Kępa covers 5.7 ha. The rise with the hillfort measures 230 by 170 metres and reaches 4.5 m above sea level, and it is separated from the mainland by a boggy strait overgrown with reeds, about 20 metres wide. The island is covered with old oak trees. A very large breeding colony of great cormorants and grey herons is located on the island, and the area lies within a Natura 2000 site and is a proposed faunal reserve. The island is covered by zonal species protection, and the Wikipedia entry notes that despite warning signs people still enter it.
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