Kolberg described this town in the following way:

“Wieleń by the Noteć river is almost entirely a German town. It has two churches (Catholic and Evangelist) and a synagogue. In the first years of the 12th century, there was a Pomeranian castle in this place, which, according to a folktale, was called Wieleń from ‘wiele jeleni’, which in Polish means ‘a lot of dears’. In 1107 the castle was seized by Bolesław III Wrymouth. Later, in 1230 the town got the city rights. In 1615, Zofija Czarnkowska from the family of Herbut found a church here, where is her grave. Outside of the town in north direction, on the right of the river there is a palace built by Piotr Sapieha in 1771. It is accompanied by a beautiful garden”.

There is a folktale which mentions the garden:

“People say different stories related to it. According to one of them, Sapieha killed once a Jew for fishing in the Noteć river near the castle. When a landowner from Branderburgy asked for the Jew, who turned out to be his serf, Sapieha ordered to catch Jews from the centre and put them in a carriage. He then sent them to the landowner to compensate him his lost. As a penance for a murder, Sapieha built a chapel which still stands next to the scientific centre in Ostrowo”.