Udomlya

Udomlya is the name of a lake and an old district in the wooded country north of Tver. Together with the neighbouring lakes Pesvo, Navolok and Kezadro, its waters formed the heart of a compact group of settlements in Novgorod’s Bezhetskaya land. The lake gives rise to the Syezha River. Several church districts shared the area, including those of St George and St Nicholas of Udomlya.

After the fall of Novgorod in 1478, a chronicle listed Udomlya among the lands taken by Grand Prince Ivan III, assessing it at fifty sokhi, units used for taxation. The survey of 1498–1499 records the district’s villages and landholdings around the lakes. The name thus belonged to a whole lakeside countryside long before the growth of a larger settlement bearing it.