Fony

Fony is a village in Gönc District of Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén County. Its population in 2024 was 245.

It is located in the western part of the Zemplén Mountains, about 65 kilometres northeast of Miskolc by road.

The immediate neighbours are: Gönc and Telkibánya to the north, Regéc to the north-east, Mogyoróska to the east, Baskó to the south-east, Arka to the south, Korlát to the south-west, Vizsoly and Vilmány to the west, and Hejce and Göncruszka to the north-west. Korlát is 3 km away, Mogyoróska 4 km, Vilmány 5 km and Regéc 6 km. The nearest towns are Abaújszántó, 17 km away, and Encs, 20 km away.

Fony and its area have been lived in since ancient times, shown by many Stone Age finds. The village is mostly built on a Stone Age settlement. It existed in the 1200s, and its name was first written as Fon in 1219 in a court case. Later, it was called Tymar Foon in 1269, Foon in 1297, and Fony in 1330. The Tymar name shows that royal tanners lived in part of the village.

On January 19, 2006, a plane crash happened in the northern outer areas of Fony. A Slovak military plane hit the side of Borsó Hill, killing 42 people. Among all nearby villages, Hejce was the closest to the crash site and the best place to send help from, so news reports often linked the tragedy to Hejce. However, the memorial built later is clearly on land that belongs to Fony.

In 2022, 87.5% of the population identified as Hungarian, 14.4% as Gypsy, 0.6% as Slovak, 0.6% as other non-Hungarian (12.5% did not declare; due to dual identities, the total may be higher than 100%). In terms of religion, 23.1% were Roman Catholic, 10.3% Reformed, 1% Greek Catholic, 1.3% other Christian, 3.5% non-denominational (60.6% did not respond).^[1]