History

The parish of Czerniewice was founded by the heirs of the Czerniewice estates, Mieczysław and Andrzej Rzeszotka, and the sons of Andrzej: Mikołaj and Mieczysław. They built a larch church, completed in 1413. During the wars with Sweden, the village was burnt down. The Baroque bell tower was built in the second half of the 18th century. Initially, it was set only on wooden sole plates, later a brick foundation was built and cobbled flooring was laid. In 1857, it was weatherboarded with planks.

Until 1939, the parish of Czerniewice had four bells of various sizes. Two of them were handed over to the German army, the other two were hidden by the parishioners: Wincenty Andrzejewski – a craftsman from Czerniewice and Władysław Szczepański – a farmer from Annopol. They were reinstalled in the bell tower in 1945. Funds for their purchase were donated by Władysław Szczepański (the first bell was named Stanisław Kostka, consecrated on 20 May 1931 by Bishop Antoni Szlagowski, the second one, with an illegible inscription, was bought in 1902).

Description

The bell tower stands at the south-west corner of the church fence. It was built in the second half of the 18th century. The bell tower was built on a square-like floor plan. It has a post and beam structure and is weatherboarded with planks. Its 4-hipped tented roof is clad with wood shingles. In the upper part, there are double window openings, each topped with a segmental arch. The wooden window frame is rectangular and filled with wooden elements at the top. The entrance to the building is from the east, through a rectangular, very low wooden door constructed from planks.

Structure: 

Wooden walls with a post and spandrel beam structure, weather-boarded with planks and connected with studs. There are 3 posts in each wall: 2 in the corners and 1 in the middle, joined together by beams and raking shores. In the centre of the building, there is a post connected with the other posts by spandrel beams and raking shores. The spandrel beams tie the structure together on 4 levels. The bells are hung on the beams of the highest storey. There are double horizontal steel tie rods along all the walls, at the top and at the bottom.

Inside, the central post reaches the top of the roof. 8 rafters meet at the central post - 4 extending from the corners, 4 based on spandrel beams at half-length of the sides. There is no floor.

At present, the bell tower is undergoing renovation.

Property of the parish. The site can be viewed from outside.

Compiled by Aleksandra Preczyńska, student of the University of Łódź, field of study: history of art 16 August 2019

Bibliography

• A.Preczyńska, praca licencjacka „Monografia kościoła pw. Św. Andrzeja Apostoła w Czerniewicach”, UŁ, 2018
• Record sheet of Historic Monuments of Architecture and Construction, compiled by Ewa Gwóźdź, May 1994