The text presents the history of the ruins of the castle in Chupkowo, which was once the habitat of the Siemaszko family; the castle itself was built thanks to Bogdan Siemaszko. The history related to the Tartar wars is recalled, as well as the later fate of the estate, which passed through the hands of the Daniłłowicz, Koniecpolski, Potocki and Walewski families. At the time of writing, Chupków belonged to Count Bolesław Poniński (Source: 'Tygodnik Illustrowany', Warsaw 1869, Series 2, T:3, pp. 104-105, after: Digital Library of the University of Łódź).

A modernised reading of the text.

The ruins of the castle in Chupkov.

Half demolished, as only three towers have survived from the original building, crumbling into rubble... Chupkov Castle was once the nest of the old Siemaszko family. In a rather depressed area of the Volyn Governorate, on the romantic banks of the Sluch river, there is the village of Khupkiv, among which the ruins of an old castle rise on a sloping mountain, dominating the local location. The location of this castle is one of the most successful. It is surrounded by hills covered with pine forest, and the rocky Sluch River, which winds around its feet and forms green clumps, completes the picture with all the conditions of picturesqueness. One might say that this castle and its surroundings were brought here by a blind hand from somewhere on the Rhine. Of the sights in which this truly beautiful region abounds, too few have yet been published in brush and pencil. However, last summer the well-known landscape painter Jozef Marszewski made a deliberate visit to the lovely shores of the Sluch River and, as we know, enriched his artistic portfolio with many beautiful sketches. The woodcut attached here shows the Chupkivsk castle as it is today, i.e. half-destroyed, with only three towers remaining from the original building, which are crumbling into ruins. The Chupkovsky Castle was once the nest of the old Siemaszko family. Of these, Bohdan became the head of the Siemashko line of the so-called "Chupkov" family, and it seems that he founded the Chupkov castle, which his son Alexander inherited from him. Already at that time the whole area was covered with castles, which were necessary to resist the Tatars, as they started to visit this area more and more often and became a constantly renewing wound, a source of tears and misfortunes for the country. In 1579, the glow of fire suddenly broke out here - and the Tatars crept quietly through the woods right up to Chupkov. The fortified castle stood to their disgust, but the surrounding villages were not spared from destruction; scores of country folk were driven into the Yasyr. Tulczyn on the Horyn River, the Siemaszko estate, was also burnt down and the peasants taken captive. In 1596, on 10 January, the siege of the Chupkov castle took place. Alexander Siemaszko was in his nest at the time. "I have nowhere (as he wrote himself) to go free". However, the siege assaults missed and the attacker finally had to give way. A year after this defeat, times were a little more cheerful. The old Siemaszko gave his castle to his younger son Marcyan, and the latter, having married Tarnowska, came down here with his young and beautiful wife. Moments must have flowed merrily for this young couple, among feasts and games, but it did not last long. Marcyan Siemaszko "while communicating, as the document says, with the Hulevichs, was shot and died from this shot in the strength of age and health." He fell victim to bloody disputes between the Hulevich and Siemaszko houses. After Marcyan's death, his elder brother Nikolai Siemaszko, who increased his fortune by marrying richly, owned a considerable estate in Siemaszko. The Siemaszko family of Chupkov ended with him, and the Chupkov estate, through the marriages of his daughters, passed to the Daniłłowicz and Koniecpolski families, after which it became the property of the Potocki and Walewski families. Today Chupkow is in the possession of Count Bolesław Poniński. Alongside these memories, drawn from documents, Chupkow has its own local tradition. Some kind of fatality seemed to chase the Siemaszko family. It is said that once the nanny, strolling on the castle hill, steeply descending to the river, carelessly dropped Mikołaj Siemaszko's little son, his only hope, into the river. The child drowned. Although in the documents there is no mention of Mikolaj Siemaszko having a male offspring; however, it is clear that the people's legend has not been able to attribute this lack of a sword in such an ancient and chivalrous family to anything other than a misfortune, like an unusual accident... These are all the traces we have about the Siemaszko family and the Chupkov castle. Nowadays this castle, as we said, has completely deteriorated, and the state of its decline dates back quite a long time, as Wilhelm Molière, a German traveller, saw it in ruins already in 1787. Khupkov itself, although it had the right of Magdeburg during the rule of the Siemaszko and Daniłłowicz families and was counted among the towns, is still a small village. This land can be labelled as: "terra incognita". This is especially true for science, as hardly any natural scientists have yet looked here, yet it deserves a closer look in this and other respects. So far, only Jakowicki and Ossowski have studied the local geological formations. Chupkov is surrounded by a wall of forests. Years ago, these forests were far more extensive and abounded in giant pine trees, which provided magnificent masts. The botanical riches in these woods are great. The 'nkw' anthoa, ornamental in flower and intoxicating in its penetrating fragrance, is found throughout these woods. This shrub has the surrounding forests as its homeland and is nowhere else to be seen. The soil here is rich in iron ore, kaolin and various clays. Next to Chupkov lies the town of Horodnica, which has long been famous for its porcelain and faience factory. As early as 1831, Jakowicki visited this factory and claimed that its faience was not inferior to that of England. There is a paper mill in Siedliszcze. After the spacious forests of Horodnica, glass factories are found. The glass made in them is of the simplest quality, but it is certain that even the most beautiful crystals could be fashioned here. In a nutshell, this country could become a manufacturing country, as it has all the right conditions for this, if there was any more entrepreneurship here.