History

The first Hollander village founded near Płock was Troszyn Niemiecki (currently Nowy Troszyn). It was founded by the Hollanders under the contract concluded on 12 May 1759 between the possessor of the royal estates, Ignacy Cichocki, and a representative of the settlers. Based on contract, the colonists settled on the area of 61 voloks, 2 morgens and 141 rods, between Troszyn Polski village and the river bed. The current Nowy Troszyn village (already before World War II) was actually formed by three groups of settlements: Troszyn Niemiecki, Troszyn and Troszynek. In 1892 they included 252 residents in 27 houses, cultivating 548 morgens of land. The holdings were characterised by good agricultural conditions. The backbone of the local agriculture included breeding cows and horses, producing cheese and horticulture. In the late 19th century fruit orchards, covering approx. 40 morgens, yielded between 150 and 400 rubles per morgen, while the meadows (260 morgens of land) allowed horse grazing and cow breeding (yielding up to 70 rubles per year).

What stands out among the preserved examples of architecture in the village is a school building erected around 1900. It is not the first object serving that purpose in the village, since already in 1798 a German Evangelical primary school was established in the settlement, attended by 37 children. Probably the first school was situated at a place of the current one (the former one was destroyed by flood). The school in Nowy Troszyn performed its function already after World War II. However, in the last decades of the 20th century it was not used and currently it functions as a meeting point for the local residents.

Description

Nowy Troszyn is a linear village located to the east from Dobrzyków, on the southern side of the Vistula river, with households located along the old Vistula flood bank, on artificially heaped hills, on the south side of a asphalt and gravel road running on top of the flood bank. The building of a former school in Nowy Troszyn is located with its gable facing the flood bank, in the central part of the village, within a single-building enclosure, originally surrounded with a fence braided of willow branches, later of a picket type, and currently with a metal mesh. It is located directly at the road running on top of the flood bank. It is made of poplar wood, in a corner-notched log structure, with dovetail halvings without protruding log ends, decoratively covered with weatherboards (in the postwar period). A medium-sized body is covered with a proportional gable roof in a rafter and collar structure, covered with Eternit. The building is a two-bay, five-axial structure and has a dispersed fire system located more closely to the end walls. Three annexes adjoin the main body (on the south, east and west sides). Additionally, a skirt roof is added in the northern part of the east façade.

The building interior has been transformed only slightly. The internal walls are plastered and painted with glue paint, the floors are made of boards or cement, the partially enclosed ceiling rests on floor beams. The traditional fire system (tile stoves and kitchens) has been preserved.

The building is accessible to visitors only following previous arrangements with the head of the commune.

Author of the note Jerzy Szałygin, National Institute of Cultural Heritage, Regional Branch in Warsaw 20-07-2017

Bibliography

• Marchlewski W, Przyczynek do dziejów osadnictwa olęderskiego w środkowym biegu Wisły w XIX-XX w. (do 1945 r.), “Kwartalnik Historii Kultury Materialnej”, vol. XXXVI, 1988, no. 3.
• Mennonite Encyklopedia, Vol. 1, Scottdale 1955-59.
• Ratzlaff E.L., Im Weichselbogen. Mennonitensiedlungen in Zentralpolen, Winnipeg 1971.
• Szałygin J., Katalog zabytków osadnictwa holenderskiego na Mazowszu, Warsaw 2004, pp. 8-37.
• Szałygin J., Osadnictwo holenderskie na terenie obecnego województwa płockiego, in: Mazowsze 1995, no. 6, pp. 35-42;
• Warchoł M., Budownictwo olęderskie nad środkową i dolną Wisłą, in: Przegląd Regionalny, 1997, pp. 51-80.