Outer bailey of Mastaiciai Mound with outworks and an outer bailey
Also called an outer bailey of Narkunai Mound
Mastaiciai village, Kiduliai eldership, Sakiai district
A great complex that is reminiscent of ancient battles is situated in Mastaiciai village of Sakiai district, very close to the River Nemunas. Not only a castle hill stems to the sky, but also two outworks with an outer bailey are here. A landing stage and ship mooring excavation overgrown with sludge is also situated nearby. It witnesses that an important ancient port formerly existed near the fortress.
New Bajerburg Castle of the Teutonic Order stood on Mastaiciai Hill in the 14th century.
Unlike two outworks that were built by the castle purely for the defense purposes, an outer bailey not only defended the fortress against attack, but also served as the home of the local people. The place was crowded by people of the Teutonic Order. The old people remember that craftsmen had their workshops on the hill. But merchants formed the largest group of the locals. After all, an ancient port was very close to this place. Thus, the merchant probably had to take care for the trade related matters. The outer bailey was probably the busiest and the noisiest place in Medieval Mastaiciai. You could hear people talking about successful trading deals or those that had failed, and the sound of coins counted. But even so well protected Mastaiciai fortress was destroyed: the fortress of the Teutonic Order was once attacked by fierce Lithuanians who were led by Kaributas. They pulled down lots of trees into the ditches that surrounded the fortress and wanted to burn one of the outworks. As the warriors defending the outwork could not withstand attacks of the enemy, they set the fire on an outwork by themselves. Flames leaped at the tower of the castle. The palace immediately turned into a heap of smoking rubble and not even the smallest hint about the power that formerly existed in this place can be found here today…Today only deciduous trees, that grow on the outer bailey, castle hill and outworks, murmur calmly in this place. Despite this fact, according to the old people, there is still a sunken castle inside the mound. The princesses formerly lived in the castle. There is a hole in the hill with a hidden gold, and a secret tunnel that leads from the mound to the River Nemunas and then it goes under the river to Skirsnemune village that is located on the opposite bank.
