Buramsanseong Fortress

Buramsanseong Fortress stands on a peak at 420m above sea level on the southern ridge of Buramsan Mountain (509m). It occupies a strategic military position able to command National Route 3 and the Jungnangcheon Stream watershed to the west, and the Wangsukcheon Stream watershed to the east. Buramsanseong is a stone mountain fortress built following the natural contours of the terrain around the peak. In plan it is a polygon close to a rectangle, with a circumference of 220m; built at a strategic point, this fortified outpost is thought to have served a watch function similar to a modern-day sentry post. Its walls were built with precision using granite cut into rectangular blocks, and the original wall height is thought to have been 5m or more. Before construction, the natural terrain was levelled into terraces, and the fortress is of double-faced (hyeopchuk) construction, in which both the inner and outer wall faces, and the fill between them, were built entirely of stone. The fortress is presumed to have had a north gate and a south gate; judging from the condition of the walls, these are thought to have been elevated hyeonmun-type gates requiring a ladder to enter. Inside, at the summit, there is a pit presumed to be a water-collection basin, and a flat area where a building is thought to have once stood. Within the fortress, Bronze Age plain pottery predating its construction has been found, along with hard-fired Silla pottery and Goryeo ceramic fragments. The construction techniques and excavated artefacts indicate that Buramsanseong was first built by Silla. The Daedongjiji, a geographical gazetteer, records in its entry on Yangju: "The old fortress of Geomamsan (Buramsan) stands at two peaks on the west side of the mountain; it was built by the righteous-army commander Go Eon-baek in 1592, the imjin year of King Seonjo's reign." This record is important evidence that Buramsanseong was also used during the Imjin War. Traces of repair work show that Go Eon-baek did not build the fortress anew but partially repaired a fortress originally dating from the Three Kingdoms period.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Namyangju, Gyeonggi

Designation

Provincial Monument · 시도기념물