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Village layouts

The layout of villages, and consequently of settlements and fields influences the layout of the homesteads themselves. That also constitutes the basic factor determining the cultural landscape, giving the holistic character to a given territory.
Villages in the lowlands, connected with the Dutch settlement are usually arranged in characteristic rows. Homesteads are situated at the main road at some distance from each other, and from them there run long strips of fields cut by irigation canals and ditches.
In the Walichnowy Lowland, the main canal "collecting" water from the uplands is Kanał Wałowy ("Floodbank Canal"). Apart from that canal there are also Kanał Średniak ("Middle-Size Canal"), Kanał Graniczny ("Border Canal"), Kanał Jeziorniak ("Lake Canal"). All they connect at Jezioro Pelplińskie ("Pelplińskie Lake") which is regulated by the pumping station Zgoda ("Harmony"), and at the outlet to the Vistula, also by pumping stations Nadzieja ("Hope") and Pokój (?Peace") (il. 3). In the Kwidzyn Lowlands, the situation looks somewhat different thanks to the natural water flow: Liwa, which is reached by Kanał Polemona ("Polemona Canal") below Kwidzyn, which earlier connects with Kanał Sadliński ("Sadliński Canal"). In the vicinity of Szkaradowo, Mały Nogat ("Little Nogat") branches off from Liwa.
A significant number of the villages, as it was said in the chapter dealing with settlement, were established in the Middle Ages, before the immigration of the Dutch. In some of them, one still can read traces of street systems with high-density housing on both sides of the road. Those are, for example, Wielkie Nebrowo, Wielkie Walichnowy or Wielki Wełcz.
Villages arranged in rows, obviously, prevail. Here, it has been assumed that there were two basic stages of development of settlement. The first one lasted until the Swedish wars, and the second one from the middle of the 17th century. Villages established in the 2nd half of the 16th century and in the 17th century are characterized by the fact that they are arranged along the main, already existing transportation routes. The layout of homesteads is relatively dense with particular homesteads evenly distributed on one side of the road (il.4).
Villages created in the second period of immigration developed in a somewhat different manner. New settlements often sprang up in areas used as pastures, at some distance from the main roads. Their layout, although also based on rows, is characterized by a significant scattering of homesteads, which sometimes constitute single colonies (il.5).
Manor farms, although not very popular in the lowlands can also be found in the landscape. Those will include Kuchnia settlements or part Międzyłęż village. The former presence of some is only marked by trees, as in the case of the no longer existing Jesuitenhof. However, even if not frequently, also industrial centres existed in this area, such as Heidemühl mill village. There were numerous windmills in the area, which nowadays, can only be found on historical maps62.
The village of Bronisławowo, although arranged in rows, is characterized by a very regular layout, both with regard to homestaeds and irrigation ditches (il. 6). That may have been conencted with the Prussian immigration action in the 19th century.
Some of the villages significantly developed on the turn of the 19th century, which is evidenced by a lot of buildings made of brick. That was partly connected with development of railways, as for example in Sadlinki, or with the Vistula river crossing at Korzeniewo and Opaleń.
The landscape of the villages situated on the Vistula, although already almost totally deprived of wooden homesteads, has maintained its unique character. Thanks to the specific properties of the environment, new houses are not built outside of the historical boundaries of homesteads. Also, the system of ditches, canals and forestation has remained unchanged for generations.






62 See: Materials which this study is based on. Unpublished carthographic sources.








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