History

According to the information contained in the Catalogue of Art Heritage in Poland, the farm buildings were built here around the middle of the 19th century. At that time, there was a brick, two-storey granary there, on a rectangular floor plan, covered with a gable roof.

The estate belonged to the Sokolnicki family. Before the Second World War, it belonged to brothers Tytus and Bogdan Wilski, who also owned a farm in Mała Wola and an estate in Wilkowice. According to oral accounts, the administrator of the manor house was Wiktor Rutkowski - a bankrupt nobleman and a holder of a coat of arms. The buildings existing then included 6 “farm hands’ living quarters”, in which 12 families lived. Each family had only one room; There was also a cowshed, a stable, a sheepfold, a granary, a smithy, a carpenter’s workshop, a sawmill and a distillery.

Tytus Wilski married the daughter of his uncle, Stefan Wilski, who was the owner of the Rogów estate. He was known as a successful landowner. In 1939, Tytus joined the army and was killed in the first days of the war. He was buried in Wysokienice. Mrs. Wilska remarried and became the wife of Mr. Szulczewski - a Pole from the Poznań region. The estate was under his management throughout the occupation. After 1945, Mrs. Szulcewska left with her husband, and the property was parcelled out. From 1949, there was an eight-, and later three-grade school in the manor house. The remaining land next to the manor house was transferred to the Association of Agricultural Cooperatives.

Before the Second World War, the park was surrounded by a wooden fence. There was an orchard directly adjacent to the park and fish ponds on the other side. The manor house has fallen into disrepair and is deserted today.

The park was probably established around the mid-19th century. This is evidenced by the presence of trees which are over 100 years old. Of special interest are enormous old poplars, aspen trees, linden trees, horse chestnut trees, alders and willows.

Description

The park complex is situated on the edge of the village of Wielka Wola, next the asphalt road leading from Czerniewice (3 km) to the village of Mała Wola (4 km). From the west, it borders with the local road leading to Kolonia Annów. It covers ​​a land plot with an area of 2.75 ha.

The present-day brick manor house situated there is clad with bituminous felt layers (formerly sheet metal). It is cellared and has plank floors, which replaced the previous parquet floors. Between 1974 and 1975, a renovation of the manor house was carried out, during which the turret was demolished, the cornices were removed and the original sheet metal roofing was replaced with bituminous felt cladding.

The park in Wielka Wola is situated in a swampy area, with its eastern side adjoining the ponds, in the immediate vicinity of the watercourse (left tributary of the Pilica River). From the north, the park borders with pastures and arable land. At present, the outline of the park resembles a rectangle, even though it was probably diamond-shaped in the past.

The manor house and the park are accessed from the west via the Czerniewice – Mała Wola road, which turns south in front of the manor house and runs in the direction of the utility buildings.

In the southern part of the park, there is a watercourse with a small pond. There were several paths which ran across the entire park.

Considering the essential elements of the park that still exist today, i.e. old tree species mentioned above, rows of planted trees delimiting the park, as well as hardly discernible walkways, one can conclude that the park has remained within its former boundaries, although it is in a bad state of repair From the south and west, the park is lined with planted hornbeam trees. The eastern and northern edges of the park are lined mostly with horse chestnut trees.

The park has features of a landscape park and its architectural design probably centred on the following two elements:

• landscape, integrally connected with the aquatic environment inside the park - a small watercourse and a fairly large water reservoir in the southern part of the park;
• architectural, related to the manor house and the granary, today remodelled and in a bad state of repair

Private property. The manor house can be viewed from outside.

Compiled by Aleksandra Preczyńska, student of the University of Łódź, field of study: history of art 26 August 2019

Bibliography

• Registry of green areas of historical significance, compiled by W. Włodarczyk, S. Łempicki, H. Gomza in July 1984, Łódź