The ashery

The first written sources on Pelenynas (the Ashery), the historical suburb of Klaipėda (Memel) city, located East of John’s Hill, date back to the second half of the 17th c. On the second half of the 18th c. developing industry resulted in the establishment factories. The first one was a leather factory, built in Friedrich suburb in 1721, while the potash factory was built near Dangė river, behind the city’s defensive fortifications in 1771. This factory used to process ash for glass production, brought from Lithuania and Poland, as well as produce potash for exports. In the 18th c. locals started referring to the suburb as Pelenynas (the Ashery). The Ashery was mostly inhabited by workers. In addition to their usual job, they used to fish – almost each family had a boat, thus making fish a common type of food on their tables. According to locals, Dangė river was rich with eels up until the World War II. A wooden bridge, connecting Pelenynas and Klaipėda was first marked on a Russian map in 1758 – the only way from Pelenynas to Klaipėda and vice versa was only by water. During the Great Fire in 1854 the suburb burned to the ground, but the title of Pelenynas stuck to the location up until the mid. 20th c. In the late 19th c. Pelenynas became a place of recreation – citizens used to skate on the frozen defensive ditches and Dangė river, in 1924 locals discovered ice-hockey and used to play it at a rink, established near the ravelin.
The only building dating back to the times of Pelenynas that survived to our day (2017) is currently hosting Klaipėda Rowing Centre. Rowing was one of the first official type of sports in Klaipėda, dating back to 1885. During the Interwar period Klaipėda had two rowing clubs – Santara and Neptūnas.