Blachownia

History

The history of Blachownia dates back to 1356, when King Casimir III the Great gave permission to establish two villages in the area under the jurisdiction of a starosta from nearby Olsztyn. This resulted in an influx of settlers, and this area of western lesser Poland, located near the border with Czech-ruled Silesia, emerged as a center of industry, with several forges and bloomeries. In the 16th century, when the settlement of Łojki (future Blachownia) belonged to Kraków Voivodeship, it had as many as 36 forges, powered by water wheels. Furthermore, iron ore was excavated here, and in one of the still-existing documents from 1531, King Sigismund II Augustus allowed a man named Błażej Łojek to run a forge. In 1606, within the boundaries of today's Blachownia, was a settlement called Trzepizury, which consisted of three houses and an inn. In 1610, Mikołaj Wolski, the starosta of Krzepice built two early blast furnaces, also purchasing a forge with two hammers, powered by water. By 1630, local metal plants manufactured app. 800 wagons of iron annually, together with farming tools, sheet metal, and cannonballs. In 1631, the metal plants were visited by King Władysław IV Vasa. In the second half of the 17th century, the Blachownia industrial center declined, together with whole Lesser Poland, following the Swedish invasion of Poland. For 150 years local plants were not mentioned in any sources. In 1782, two bloomeries near Krzepice are described. After the Partitions of Poland, Blachownia since 1815 belonged to Russian-controlled Congress Poland, from 1867 on as part of Piotrków Governorate. Due to efforts of Stanisław Staszic, artisans from Gliwice and technology from Berlin were brought to Blachownia, to recreate metal industry. In 1834, Bank Polski leased area for…

Most-observed species

• Common Wood-Pigeon

  Columba palumbus Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  77
• Western Jackdaw

  Coloeus monedula (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  77
• Eurasian Blackbird

  Turdus merula Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  67
• Garden Spider

  Araneus diadematus Clerck, 1757 · Arachnida
  64
• Great Tit

  Parus major Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  57
• Mallard

  Anas platyrhynchos Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  57
• Harlequin ladybird, Asian ladybird, Asian ladybeetle

  Harmonia axyridis (Pallas, 1773) · Insecta
  53
• Common Crane

  Grus grus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  52

Most recent

• M 2.6 — 2026-04-09
  1 km WNW of Radlin, Poland
• M 2.9 — 2025-04-29
  4 km WSW of Bytom, Poland
• M 3.2 — 2025-01-27
  1 km NE of Radlin, Poland
• M 2.9 — 2024-07-11
  4 km N of Jejkowice, Poland
• M 3 — 2023-10-04
  2 km W of Murcki, Poland
• M 2.7 — 2022-04-23
  4 km NE of ?wierklany Górne, Poland