Gorbatovo

Gorbatovo stands above the Oka, on a stretch of river between Murom and Nizhny Novgorod. A charter of 1565 records a settlement here as Meshcherskaya Porosl, granted to the Saviour Monastery of St Euthymius at Suzdal. Its later name recalled the former owner, Prince Gorbaty-Shuysky. In 1779 the village and neighbouring Meshcherskaya Sloboda became the town of Gorbatov. Its inhabitants cultivated fields and orchards, made rope and fishing tackle, and worked on river vessels.