Prachov Rocks and its surroundings is a place rich with history. The first settlement can be dated to ancient times. Evidence of early Bronze age settlement can be found on a plateau called Starý Hrádek. A village was set up at this place at the time and that is where findings of bronze buckles come from. Traces of Celtic settlement can be found here as well.
A vast fortification system of the rock town dates from the time when the Slavs settled in the rocks. The whole area was enclosed by a system of bulwarks. There is evidence of fire in some places, which attest to conquering the rock settlement. The fire can be dated to the 10th century, judging by the ceramics found. This was the period when the Přemyslid dynasty was consolidating their position in the Czech lands.
The Prachov Rocks became a part of Veliš dominion when the regal Castle Veliš was founded on a near basalt hill. The castle didn’t remain a property of the ruler for too long. The Vitkovec dynasty gained the castle in 1277 as a compensation for castle Hluboká, which had been previously confiscated. Afterwards the castle belonged to the Vartnebergs, briefly even to the king Jiří of Poděbrady, Oldřich of Rožmberk, the Trčkas of Lípa, etc. At the beginning of 17th century, Albrecht Eusebius of Wallenstein obtained the castle. Wallenstein made Jičín into the seat of this dominion. Records show that the Rocks were divided into two villages at the time - po Zadní and Přední Moravsko. The village Prachov itself had not existed yet, and in its place stood a village called Valy, named after remnants of ancient fortification.
After Wallenstein was assassinated in 1634 in Cheb, the Veliš dominion went into the ownership of Earl Schlik. Thus, the Veliš dominion became part of the property of this distinguished dynasty.
The Schliks were originally a burgher family coming from Cheb. They reached their aristocratic standing in 1437, when Sigismund the Holy Roman Emperor, and later Albert II of Germany, raised Kaspar Schlik, a chancelor of Sigismund, to lordly status.
The dynasty increased in wealth in following generations when silver was found in their dominion of Jáchymov. The Schliks founded a mint in Jáchymov and minted their own coins called joachimsthaler - jáchymov tolar.
Financial difficulties of the Habsburgs, namely of Ferdinand I, led the ruler to restrict the influence of the Schliks after a military action in 1534 to only minting coins. In 1545, the Schliks were further limited by giving up their right to mine for silver to the ruler. Thus, they got into opposition against the Habsburgs, which consequently led to leading the uprising of Bohemian estates in 1620.
After losing the battle of White Mountain in 1620, Jáchym Ondřej Schlik, as one of the leaders of the uprising, was executed in 1621 as the first of 27 Bohemian lords.
Jindřich Schlik, his cousin and a colonel, led a regiment of Moravians. The victorious side captured Jindřich Schlik, but unlike his cousin, he was offered a post with the imperial court due to his being a professional soldier. However, the condition was that he had to cease his support of protestants. Jindřich Schlik converted to Catholicism, and was raised to a general and president of the dvorská válečná rada. He recieved the Veliš domnion as salary in 1637.
The Prachov Rocks were also part of fortification of Austrian armies in 1866. A crucial battle was supposed to take place here. The Prussian army moved forward much quicker than the Austrian side expected. On the 29th June 1866, the first clashes took place. However, the Austrian leaders were completely disoriented and unprepared. After a few hours of fighting, the Austrian leaders gave the order to withdraw. Unfortunately, not all units got the information. A part of the army withdrew and the rest was obliterated in lost and futilely defended fortifications.
Commemoration of these unfortunate events can still be found in local names – a pond Vražda - Murder, a field Na zabitých – on the killed, and by memorials in Prachově, Horní Lochov, Jinolice, Kněžnice and other places.
