Lepšiškiai mound, otherwise called Batareika or Batarėja, is a site of an ancient Lithuanian wooden castle. It is dated back to the 1st millennium – the beginning of the 2nd millennium. For defence purposes, our ancestors cut off the natural cape from the plateau, dug out a 4 m wide and 0.8 deep ditch and banked a 11 m wide and 2.8 high mound. This way they formed a yard area of 15 × 7 m. A wooden defence tower stood on the mound, and the yard was surrounded by a defence wall. From the side of the valley, the castle was protected by steep 23 m high slopes.
Before World War II these areas were densely inhabited by Poles. From here, the name of the village Lepsziszki (in Polish – a better place) has derived. After the war, the name was Lithuanized into Lepšiškiai.
Edmundas Mališauskas photo
