Velká Dobrá
Velká Dobrá is a municipality and village in Kladno District in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 1,800 inhabitants. Geography. Velká Dobrá lies 3 km from Kladno. It is linked by road to Karlovy Vary. The municipality once contained nine ponds, but today only one remains, on the village common. Etymology. Velká Dobrá means literally "Great Good" or "Large Good". The name refers to "good water" or "fertile land". There were formerly two separate municipalities, Malá Dobrá and Velká Dobrá, earlier called Hořejší and Dolejší Dobrá. During the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia  (1939–1945) the municipality was called "Groß Dobray". History. There is evidence of human inhabitation in the region of Velká Dobrá since prehistory. A late 19th century archaeological investigation led by Josef Szombathy discovered a large middle Bronze Age (ca. 1200 BCE) grave site near the village in the forest of Hora. A monument constructed over 50 years stood over the largest grave mound. Around sixty graves were investigated, yielding bronze weapons, tools and utensils, several of which were sent for display at museums in Prague and Vienna. The first written records of Dobrá date from 1328, when two strongholds existed  in the area, the lower at the site of the modern school on Komenského Square and the upper stronghold (still standing) at the junction of the Kladno and Karlovy Vary roads. 15th–18th century. During the Hussite Wars the settlement, located on an important trade route through Bohemia, was badly damaged. In 1548 Malá Dobrá had eight settlers and Velká Dobrá nine. The village sustained extensive damage during the Thirty Years' War. Protestant troops under Frederick V marched through Dobrá from Rakovník on August 26, 1619, and looted the village. During the war many residents were slaughtered, died of epidemic disease , or fled into the forests. In 1662, reports stated that 6 out of 14 farms at the settlement were still empty, and the lower village stronghold of Žďárští od Žďár, used for accommodation during the 16th century, had been turned into farm land. In 1688, though, the former upper defensive stronghold was converted into a granary, suggesting a recovering population. Around 1753 the village erected a statue to John of Nepomuk, followed by a chapel in 1765. The chapel was remodelled to its current form in 1816 and dedicated by Antonín Hertzok of Adlersberg, dean of Smečno, on 12 October  1817. 19th–20th century. Until the mid-19th century the Kladno region was largely agricultural, and most Velká Dobrá residents were farmers. In 1843 Malá Dobrá's population numbered 326 persons in 42 households, with another 291 persons in 36 households (average eight residents per household) at Velká Dobrá. New employment opportunities emerged when the first black coal mines were opened in the Kladno region, and expanded when Adalbert Works, a steelworks and predecessor of the modern company Poldi, opened at Kladno. The population rose by 115 between 1843 and 1857, and reached a total of 748 across Malá and Velká Dobrá  in 1870, despite a cholera outbreak that killed 30 in 1866, following the stationing of Prussian troops at the village during the Austro-Prussian War. In 1929 the Unhošť administrative district was abolished and Malá and Velká Dobrá became parts of Kladno District. In 1935, the municipalities of Malá Dobrá and Velká Dobrá were merged.