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  A history of Voderady village

The village is situated between two streams called Gidra (original name Pilava) and Ronava on the rich loess Trnava board, which is part of the Danube Lowland. People have been always attracted by favourable soil conditions of this area which has been proved by the findings made on the banks of nearby streams Gidra and  Ronava. There were also findings indicating the settlement of the village as early as the Paleolithic period.

Voderady are very old settlement. Closed to the village was the path going from Slavic fortress Braslav (Bratislava) to the fort Nitra, which probably existed already in 8th century.

In the administrative area of Voderady and nearby there are findings from all historical periods. In the thirties of the last century there have been also findings from the time of La Tene, including shards of gray and a fragment of graphite container. These were ceramics made by Celts, who lived in our area since about 400 BC. In the vicinity of the village, between two branches of Gidra stream, there have been found the evidence of settlements from the Roman period. It was a scrap of stone hand grinder, friction stones, trimmed quartzite and oval-shaped shard of pottery container - terra sigillata. In 1992 close to the village there was a bronze buckle from the early Roman period. In 1996, near the village there were found other evidences of Bronze Age and Roman times. Archaeologists from the Carpathian museum in Pezink found  bronze buckle  from the roman period and pieces of prehistoric and medieval ceramics during the archaeological research north-west of the village in October 2008.

Thanks to the geomorphological research in 2009 near the creek called Ronava the silver buckle from the Roman period was found. There were also found remains of Germanic pottery dated to the same time, daub (burnt building material) and bones of various animals.  Same geomorphological research uncovered also fragments of pottery dating from prehistoric times to the Middle Ages. Based on the findings, we can assume that somewhere in the vicinity of this poly-cultural area was prehistoric settlement.

During the construction activities in 2013 prehistoric and medieval settlements were found. On the north-west of the village near the creek Gidra archaeologists uncovered several archaeological objects. They found also fragments of pottery dated from prehistoric times to the Middle Ages, some animals´ bones and articles made of iron.

The existence of Voderady was first historically documented in a territorial charter Zelenci from 1243, which was issued by the King Bela IV. The village is there mentioned and called as Wederet. Part of the village was royal, in the hands of three people of Bratislava Castle, the second part was the property of Stephen and Benedict from Blatné and the last part was  property of some Michael. He sold it to Abraham Rufus, who sold it in 1297 in exchange for Sobotište and Brunch with Count Aba, son of master Aba. Earl Aba owned this part of Voderady to his early death coming at the Battle of Rozhanovce, where he fell fighting against King Charles I. His wealth is likely to be forfeited to the king because his family was no longer in any sources mentioned.  Other written sources say that in 1335 the archbishop of Esztergom gave  income from Voderady  and other parishes to the other Esztergom custodian John in exchange for other property. Included in the exchange there were six of their nobility residing in Voderadské valley.

In the 14th century the Voderady was mentioned only in territorial charter of Majcichov and Zeleneč. In 1394 as a neighbor of Voderady was remembered defunct village of Hrušov.

In the 15th century part of Voderady was property of Count George, son of Nicholas from Pezinok and his brother, Count Nicholas. In 1418, Count George got the second part Voděrady, as a gift from King Sigismund appreciating his merits. After it a large part of Voderady became the property of Count Peter, son of Count George. In later written records there is Count Ladislav Pezinský mentioned as the owner Voderady, then in 1473 also the Virgin Mary monastery in Trnava, Earl of Simeon Pezinka and also Countess Barbara, daughter of Count Ladislav, who led the Count Simeon dispute over the property, to which belonged also Voderady. They have been following this dispute largely attributed Countess Barbara. Earl Simeon remained, however, the owner of a small part. The last record of property transactions in medieval Voderady is the sale of Voderady to property of Paul Holý from Hradná, which they bought in 1515 for 2,000 hungarian gold minces from royal adviser Ambros Sárkány. Addition to this, sale was probably forced by circumstances, when in his absence Svätojurskí and Pezinskí Counts repeatedly perpetrated violence against inhabitants of Voderady. In 1512 even the jobagions  of Voderady were forcibly dragged.

Portal census from 1553 shows bishop of Győr as a owner property in Voderady. The port census from 1647 then shows that the owner of Voderady was Thomas Baranyay. After that, Voderady  became step by step the property of the Counts Zichy. In the first half of the 18th century was the owner of Voderady Győr Earl Bishop Francis Zichy and after Count Franz Zichy older, who became the founder of Voderady branche of Zichy. Hungarian noble family of Zichy owned manor in Voderady until the early 20th century, when the death of Joseph Zichy caused extinction of Voderady manor in its original size. In 1906 daughter of Joseph Zichy called Clare married the Count of Croatian origin Stephen Keglewich. Stephen with his wife and daughter Magdalena (Janka) were the last owners of Voderady manor. They owned it until 1945, when they left it shortly before the arrival of Soviet troops.

Origin of the village name

It is said that the source of the Slavonic name of the village refers to the original occupation of the local people, who maintained the local streams, fords, and dams. In the course of centuries the form of the village name gradually changed from Wedered, Vogyerád, Wedred, Vedrid, Wogeradj, Woderady to the present-day Voderady, which has not been changed since 1920.

Ethnic structure of the village

The Slovaks have always been original inhabitants of Voderady. A. Kudla, the chronicler, said that „the emotional and speech character of the inhabitants were always purely Slovak“. The strong Trnava dialect has always been spoken there.

Village Seals

The oldest known seal with a church picture in it comes from a written document dating back to 1697. In the seals from 1768 and 1832 there is a picture of crucified St. Andrej. The current village seal form is based on the seal from the end of the 18th century.

Čambálová, Daniela a kol. Voderady 1243–1993. Voderady: Obecný úrad 1993.