Khotiml

Khotiml occupied a fortified site among the forests of the upper Oka country. Its inner enclosure had at least two gates and an unusual advantage: a spring inside the defences filled a pond, whose excess water drained into a nearby stream. The earthworks belong to one of the substantial strongholds of the Karachev lands, a region of wooded river valleys and many small neighbouring princely possessions.

In 1499 the Lithuanian grand prince Alexander granted the Khotiml district to Prince Simeon of Mozhaysk, who entered Moscow’s service with his lands the following year. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries Khotiml remained the centre of a district of Karachev. The old fortification could still offer local people refuge when raiders threatened the countryside.