Kobelyak fortress

Kobelyak fortress - fortification at the town of Kobelyaki .

The Kobelyak fortress was founded in the first half of the 17th century, ^[1] presumably around 1610 on the right bank of the Vorskla River at the confluence of the Kobelyachka River. ^[2]

According to the plan drawn up by G. de Beauplan in the first half of the 17th century, the fortress consisted of two parts. ^[3] One of them had the shape of a quadrangle composed of earthen ramparts with ditches, in the corners of which were four bastions, two of which were on the eastern river side of the fortress. The other part of the fortress had the shape of a triangle, the southern peak of which it is attached to the first part and circled by a picket fence. The area of ​​the second part on this plane was several times larger than the first, this indicates that it could serve as a citadel. ^[2]

At the beginning of the 20th century, P. A. Kititsyn conducted a survey of old-timers about the fortress and published the collected data in the work “Old Kobelyak”: ^[1]

The fortress in Kobelyaki was earthen, surrounded by a rampart. The shaft began from the Vorskla River and passed along the Yekaterinoslavskaya road, turned east near the shops, and went down the square along Troitskaya Street to the river. The fortress stood on a mountain, against the Assumption Church ...

According to the work of P. A. Kititsyn, two gates led to the Kobelyak fortress, which were located on the northern and southern sections of the outer wall, while the entrance to the citadel was on the eastern side. ^[2] Of the buildings in the fortress, there were houses of a hundred and city government, as well as three wooden churches, a hospital, shopping malls and a school, there were underground passages and water pipes made of clay pipes, which was directed from west to east and passed from the Kobelyachka river to the center cities. ^[four]

About the strengthening of the Kobelyak fortress is mentioned in the work of N.I. Arandarenko. ^[5] On the Kobelyak plan of 1871, the line of fortifications of the old fortress is visible and the square, streets and churches of the city mentioned in the work of P. A. Kititsyn are depicted. ^[6] On the plan of 1871, the line of the former citadel had a trapezoidal shape. ^[2]

Currently, the remains of the earthen rampart have been preserved on the south side of the former fortress. Its total length, according to estimates, was about 2 thousand meters, ^[7] and its height reached 2.5-3 meters. The slopes over Vorskla, along which the eastern part of the fence passed, on which the remains of the bastions now protrude towards the river, are about 45 meters high, and their steepness reaches 75-80 degrees. The citadel of the fortress was also located here, as evidenced by the surviving remains of the earthen rampart and the moat, which separated it from the rest of the fortress. At the entrance to the citadel there is an old slot in the shaft. Here, the earthen rampart of the former citadel can be traced at a distance of about 150 meters, has a height of about 10 meters and retains traces of escarpment - a piece of undercut slopes. ^[8] .