Towns and Villages - Rowy

Details

Published on Monday, 14 November 2011 23:08

ROWY - a fishing and summer village in the commune of Ustka situated at the mouth of the Łupawa River, nearby the Gardno Lake. A terminal moraine makes a cliff here at the height of 35 m.

Since the XVII century it has been constantly existing on the maps in the form of Rou, Roye, Rowe. The oldest form of the name depicts that originally the name was in a singular number >Rów< and is certainly connected with the river-bed on which it is situated; German - Rowe.

The legend describes, that the village was founded by shipwrecked people, the refugees from Wolin after the attack of the Vikings. The oldest document with the name comes from 1282, in which the Duke Mściwój II renewed the grant of premises to the Church of St. Stanislav in Gardna - Rowy recorded there as Rou. In the XIII century, the village was a sea harbour for the stronghold of Gardna Wielka. In the XIV century the knight named Bartowicz had the right to organise herring fishing here. Then the village was under the reign of the Von Bandemers, and consequently Von Schwayen family. The pirate legend might be combined with the echo of the fights on the Baltic, which were occurring here by the end of the XIV century. That time, so called, Witalijscy Brothers, commenced their piracy activities that were formerly supplying food by sea to Germans being besieged by the Danes in Stockholm. Probably in 1390 a vessel stopped at a port in Rowy with future King of England, Henry IV, who was having a cruise to Gdańsk. Again the name of Rowy appeared in the XV century recordings documenting the history of Pomeranian descents of the Von Zitzewitzs, Von Stojentins and Von Kleists. A wider information on the village derives only from 1602 and it concerns the rescript standardising the duties of the clergyman. In 1784 there lived 26 families that were making their living of fishing. The last sermon in Kaszubian language was preached in the local church in 1799. Not far away from the Gardno Lake, an old church was situated that derived from the beginning of the XIV century, the new one was built in 1581 and the current one in 1844 -1849. A grandson of one of the clergymen - Johann Jarcke-Gustkowski, became famous during Napoleonic wars as a Field Marshal of Prussian army. The famous commander-in-chief is known as Yorck von Wartenburg.

The church from 1844-49 in the Neo-Roman style built from post-glacial stones; the cemetery situated by the church where the seamen from the wrecked ships are buried, its arrangement has been entirely blurred. A summerhouse timbered in the croft no. 12, an oven from the beginning of the XX century in the croft no. 34.

Source: "Historical Dictionary of Towns and Villages of the Slupsk Province",
authors: A. Świetlicka - E. Wisławska