A Debreceni Déri Múzeum Évkönyve 1992-1993 (Debrecen, 1994)

Történelem - Lévai Béla: Monostor in the Mirror of Place-names

Béla Lévai MONOSTOR IN THE MIRROR OF PLACE-NAMES Monostor was a village in the Árpádian Age to the North of Debrecen. It was destroyed in 1594 by the Crimean Tartars fighting on the side of the Turks. The names of the landowners of the village (such as Apay, Rozsályi, Thegzes, Anarcsi, Várday, Urai, Kun etc.) have not been preserved in geographical names. Today even the name Szentpálteleki (St Paul's Parcel) has been lost to common memory. Monostor never had a large river. The medieval water-mill was located on the bank of the stream called Kondoros (Beavar Creek) flowing by the village. Among the surrounding lakes the most significant were Csukás (the Lake of Pikes), Régi-and Új-Füzes (Old and New Willow Lakes). Hills usually served as frontiers: Komlós-hegy (Hill of Hops), Kettős-hegy (Twin Hills), Nagy András-Halom (Nagy András's Hill), Templom-hegy) (Church Hill) and Kőomladékos-domb (Hill of Crumbling Bricks). In the names of Church Hill and Hill of Crumbling Bricks the names of madieval churches have been preserved. Artificial ditches can be found in great number, e. g. Ördög-árok or Csörsz-árok (the Devil's Ditch), Nagy-árok (Big Ditch), Árok (Ditch), Nagyerdei-árok (Big Forest Ditch), Monostori-árok (the Ditch of Monostor) and Zsidó-árok (Jewish Ditch). The village having been destroyed, the territory came into the possession of the inhabitants of Debrecen and Hajdúhadház, who made use of the plain (Monostor-puszta) by turning it into pastures for horses, cattle and sheep. Several wells were sunk as early as the 18th century: e. g. Csordakút, Gulyakút (Herd Well), Botoskút (Shadoot) etc. It was also int he 18th century that the construction of the present network of roads was started — Hadházi út (the road leading to Hadház), Lóger útja (the road of Clearing), Monostori dűlőút (the pathway passing by Monostor), Sámsoni út (Samson Road), Kefés dűlőút and Aszalós dűlőút. The first written document about Monostori-erdő (Monostor Forest) has come down to us from a trial in 1484 when some trespassers were tried for cutting down the trees of the forest. Int the 18th century, forest clearings were extensively cultivated. Maps in hand-written mauscripts have preserved the folowwing names: Fehér András kaszálója (Fehér András's hayfield), Nagy Demeter kaszálója, Debreczeni István kaszálója, Farkas kaszálója etc. At the beginning of the 19th century in the Southern part of the forest a forester's house was built. In the 19th century and later after the 2nd World War the number of the 'tanya'-s (a piece of land owned and cultivated by a small group of people, usually by a family: away from any populated territory, similar to a range or a farm) increased considerably — e. g. Tímártanya, Bálinttanya, Györgytanya, Szolnoki tanya, Oláhtanya etc. By now most of them have disappeared. At the end of the last century a private estate — called Knolltanya — was formed, and this century Tábornoktanya (General's Range) was formed on a territory which once had been a land granted to a 'vitéz' (valient soldier). In 1867 an agricultural school of nationwide significance was established in Monostor and a permanent settlement called Pallag emerged around it at the beginning of our century. The estate belonging to the school had several important intitutions: such as the Institute for Experimenting with Tobacco (Dohánykísérleti Állomás); an institute for the production of seeds (Nagykert), a Vineyard; and various animal farms. The streetnames of Pallag commemorate the famous teachers and scholars of the agricultural school — e. g. Manninger Gusztáv Street, Morvay Zoltán Street, Mathiász János Street, Tormay Béla Street. The mainstreet is caled Mezőgadász utca (Agronomist Street). 99