Earthen Fortification in Galmal-eup, Cheorwon

This site comprises an earthen fortification enclosing fields in the village of Toseong-ri, and a rectangular stone monument standing on the site of the former Pungjeon post station in the village of Guntan-ri. Built up in a rectangular shape from clay, the fortification stands, unusually for Korea, on flat ground. It must originally have been of considerable size, but today only one side of the wall survives, the other three having disappeared. Traces of house sites where people once lived remain inside the fortification, and fragments of plain earthenware and stone tools have been found there. According to local tradition, the Qing generals Mabudae and Yonggoldae built this fortress in a single night during the Manchu invasion of 1636 (the twelfth year of King Injo of Joseon), but this story is entirely unverified. The rectangular stone monument resting on its pedestal bears, boldly carved on its four sides, an inscription naming a patrol commissioner, Lord Yi Ho-min, and the term Igyeongdae, and appears to be a memorial stone honouring Yi Ho-min. Yi passed the state examination in 1801, the first year of King Sunjo, and became a royal inspector the following year; after holding several further posts, including Chamui, a third-rank councillor in the State Council, he was appointed Governor of Gangwon Province in 1811, the eleventh year of King Sunjo, and took up residence here. At the time, corrupt politics and popular unrest were provoking uprisings in many places, compounded by famine, but as governor he worked tirelessly to look after public sentiment, governed well and gave relief to the people equally, leaving behind many achievements. After his death, the people of this region, unable to forget the kindness he had shown them in life, erected this memorial stone in his honour at this spot, an important junction on the route linking Seoul with the northwest, and it still stands in its original place today. Judging from the span of Yi Ho-min's life, the monument is thought to have been made in the early 1800s; a memorial shelter now stands over it to protect it.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Cheorwon, Gangwon

Designation

Provincial Monument · 시도기념물