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Homestead layout



Homesteads connected with the Dutch settlement can be divided into two basic types. Buildings which gather all the elements: residential part, cowshed and barn under one roof; and a dispersed layout where the house and farm buildings are situated separately.
Both variants appear in the discussed area. The first type is characteristic of the whole period. All three variants of this type, such as longitudinal, combined homestead, angle-shaped homestead and cross-shaped homestead (il.8) have been identified in the landscape of the Kwidzyn Lowland. The characteristic element of the whole olęder [Dutch] settlement is orientation of the residential part of the homestead towards the river upstream63. Homesteads were set on artificially built elevations, so called terpas64. In this area, houses are in most cases situated with their longitudinal wall facing the road running through the village. In case of some settlements, the main factors deciding about their irregular arrangement were water flows (il. 7). Elements creating the closed space of the homestead also were flower and vegetable gardens and orchards. Gardens were usually situated between the residential part and the road (il.9). Orchards were behind them and were often accessed through a door in the gable wall.
In order to present not only the layout of a homestead, but also the attempt to reconstruct the changes which appeared in that layout, three examples will be discussed in detail. Beginning from the second half of the 19th century, it often happened that the basic layout of a combined homestead was supplemented with new buildings which, following the development of agriculture, became indispensable for functioning of a developing farm.
The oldest combined longitudinal homestead is Kaniczki 465. In its present shape, it has a residential part with an arcade side extension and a farming part built of brick (il. 10). The homestead is situated with its longitudinal and arcade wall parallel to the road running through the village (il. 11). Between the homestead and the road there was a flower and vegetable garden and, farther, an orchard. Most probably, this homestead originally housed also a barn under one roof66. In the oldest iconography from the beginning of the 20th century, the farming part, here only the barn, is made of brick (il. 12,13). On the northern part, at the end of the 19th century, there appeared a big barn with its gable wall facing the road.
Another very interesting example is the angle-shape layout of M±towskie Pastwiska 30 of 177967. Originally, it was situated with its gable wall parallel to the access road (il.14). Behind the residential part there was a cowshed and a barn, broken at right angle. In front of the residential part and on its western side there was a flower and vegetable garden and an orchard. A similar layout also had the already non-existing angle-shaped homestead at Janowo (il.9)68. The main entrance was situated in the longitudinal wall on the courtyard side. On the gable wall side, beginning from 1779, a small two-chamber extension was added, a so called chamber of the elders. It was not built together with the main body of the building, which is proved by a blinded window opening. This part was probably added when the farmer gave his farm to the younger generation. In 1827, within the boundaries of the homestead there appeared a house for farm workers (il. 15)69. Its gable wall is oriented towards the road and the main farm. An encountered iconography of a homestead from the Malbork Lowland seems to confirm the existence of such arrangements in Żuławy (The Vistula Lowlands) (il. 16)70, although they haven't been analyzed in any way, yet.
In case of the scattered homesteads, the situations seems to be more difficult. The oldest solutions of this type are known from two quarters of the 19th century. The residential building is usually situated with its longitudinal wall along the road (il.17). Between them, there is a flower and vegetable garden. Access to the yard leads along one of the gable walls. Within the boundaries of the homestead, there exists a barn, in most cases situated perpendicularly to the house, with the gable wall facing the road. However, the barn is situated parallel to the road. Such a layout, although most frequently encountered, is of course subject to various modifications. A large number of regularly situated scattered homesteads can be found in Bronisławowo village. An element which distinguishes that place is a big number of tobacco drying facilities which are situated similarly to barns (il.18).
Finally, it must be stressed that the scattered type of a homestead has been very popular in this area up to the very beginning of the 20th century. Among them, a particular attention is drawn by a big number of angle-shaped homesteads. Scattered homesteads, although developing from the second quarter of the 19th century, did not fully dominate the lowlands landscape as it happened in the case of other areas of the Lower Vistula71.





63 J. Szałygin, Katalog zabytków osadnictwa holenderskiego na Mazowszu, Warszawa 2004, s. 31.
64 See J. Domino, op. cit., p. 62. Terpas can be found without any problem under combined homesteads, e.g. Barcice 16. In case of scattered homesteads, only the residential building was situated on an elevation. It is difficult to say whether or not it was a general rule, but such a layout is characteristic of the found homestead Gniewskie Pole 39.
65 H. Wernicke, Bauernhauser der Marienwerder Niederung und die Geschichte ihren Bewohner, "Zeitschrift des Historischen Vereins für Reg.-Bez. Marienwerder?, H. 50, 1912, s.7-10; Kaniczki 4, KEZAIB, 1992, oprac. T. Okoniewska, A. Walczak, M. Kosicki, mps w zbiorach Muzeum Etnograficznego w Toruniu.
66 This can be proved by the preserved iconography of arcade houses from the Kwidzyn Lowlands. All of them have a linear layout. See footnote 8.
67 B. Schmidt, op. cit., s. 324-328.
68 W. Łęga, op. cit., s. 33.
69 M. Prarat, Houses for farm workers in farms situated on the Vistula, based on the example of the homestead M±towskie Pastwiska 30 and its conservation problems (under preparation).
70 A photo of an angle-shaped homestead with a worker house, Marienburg-Archiv Hamburg.
71 In the Sartowicka-Nowska Lowland, scattered homesteads have been a dominating element since the 2nd half of the 19th century. See http://holland.org.pl/art.php?kat=art&dzial=sar&id=3_6, 24.09. 2009.




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