Ķintu Well

The well was constructed in unknown times, with its largest stones forming the well rings, each nearly 2 meters long. The well’s cross-section is square-shaped, with sides measuring 1.25 meters. Until the mid-19th century, this site was home to the Ķintes farmhouse. The well is valued both as a potential ancient cult site and simply as the last remaining testimony of a once-powerful homestead.

Before the plague era, a strongman named Ķinte lived in the Aizpute region. He was capable of splitting and smoothing enormous stones, which he transported to his home using a white mare hitched to a sled. He built his structures on massive stones and fenced his fields with similarly large rocks. On one occasion, after quarreling with a merchant from Liepāja, Ķinte loaded a huge stone onto his wagon intending to block the merchant’s shop door in the city. However, the townspeople, fearing damage to the bridge, did not allow him to cross, forcing Ķinte to leave the stone by the side of the Grobiņa road, where it still lies, astonishing passersby.

Legends and actual accounts confirm that Ķinte’s homestead once stood here, with both the buildings and fences constructed from large and massive stones. Unfortunately, in the mid-19th century, during the construction of the nearby Dzērve Manor, the Ķinte farmhouse was dismantled, and its stones repurposed for manor buildings. In 1975, the Ķinte ancient site was archaeologically investigated, revealing it was inhabited from the 17th to 19th centuries. However, whether the massive stone constructions date to this period remains uncertain. Legends suggest that the Ķinte site could be even older. Regardless, stories of the strongman Ķinte and his great deeds, aided only by his white mare, are still told among the people.

Agris Dzenis:
“The writings of Baltic German intellectuals are often the most detailed—or even the only—records of now-lost sites. Karl Friedrich Watson, the founder of Latvian journalism and pastor of Lestene, studied and partially measured the largest megalithic structure in Latvia—stone constructions at the Ķinte homestead in present-day Cīrava Parish, Aizpute region. In the mid-19th century, the baron of Dzērve Manor ordered the relocation of the Ķinte farmhouse, using nearly all its stones for constructing the new manor house. Only the well remains, still notable for its massive granite rings.

Watson’s lecture, ‘On the Dzērve Ķinte Homestead,’ was delivered at the Courland Society of Literature and Art on June 2, 1819.

According to Watson’s collected tales, a strongman named Ķinte lived here before the plague era. He could transport the largest stones using just a white mare and built all his houses and field fences from these giant rocks. Once, after a dispute with a merchant from Liepāja, Ķinte used his mare to haul a huge stone to the city, intending to block the merchant’s doorway in revenge. Fearing the wagon would collapse the bridge, the townspeople refused him entry, forcing Ķinte to leave the stone by the Bārta–Grobiņa road, where it still lies.

Watson, together with Cīrava’s pastor Walter, examined the stone piles at Ķinte’s homestead. All the buildings had high foundations made from enormous boulders. Flat stones, 3–4 feet (about 1.1–1.3 m) in diameter, surrounded the residential building. In the cellar, a furnace ran through the entire structure. The stairs, floor, and walls of the cellar were made of hewn stone, as were the porches and floors of the carriage house. A small granary with 3-foot (about 1 m) high foundations of large stones stood apart from other buildings. According to stories, the miraculous man Ķinte lived there during summers.

Near the granary was an unusually built well, square in shape with 4-foot (about 1.7 m) sides, its rings made of large flat stones, some covering areas of 12–16 square feet (about 2 m²). A stone drainage system nearby, covered with earth, managed overflow in spring and autumn. In the garden stood numerous flat stones, 2–3 feet (0.6–1 m) thick, serving as stands for beehives. A few hundred steps away lay around 100 large flat stones, some 3 feet (1 m) thick, previously used as beehive platforms. In front of the threshing barn’s doors were large flat stones, one of which was 6 feet (about 2.6 m) in diameter with a polished center. A small pond, paved with stones, was found in the yard, though its construction seemed incomplete.

A monumental field wall began 40 feet from the yard gate, extending 170 paces before turning almost at a right angle and continuing another 217 paces to a spruce grove. The wall was made of very large stones: the biggest measured 7–8 feet (about 2.2–2.6 m), and the average stones were 4–5 feet (1.3–1.7 m) tall. All the large stones stood upright, supported by a base of smaller rocks. As the stones weren’t bound with mortar, many had already toppled. On the opposite side of the field was an unfinished stone wall, 42 paces long. Many stones had been taken from the site over the years for construction materials. Interestingly, large stones were scarce in the surrounding area. Inside the house, two logs with curved ends—used for transporting stones—were shown. Some of the largest stones had volumes of 140 cubic feet, with many between 120–125 cubic feet.

Watson speculated that the site may have once been a priest’s residence. The flat stones beyond the homestead might have been a sacrificial site, later repurposed by a strong farmer before the plague era for his own needs.”