Bælum church / Bælum kirke, Hellum herred, Aalborg amt.

Bælum Church, 12 km north of Hadsund
Bælum sogn, Hellum herred, Aalborg amt

Bælum Church has a Romanesque choir and nave built in granite ashlars. It must have had an apse which was demolished a long time ago, which is proved by several plinth stones in the wall work. Both doors are preserved. The south door is in use, the north door is wallled, in the nave are traces from two doors, in the choir is a round arched window. In the late Gothic period a tower was added to the west, built in re-used granite ashlars. The cross-vaulted bottom room of the tower opens in a pointed arch to the nave, which eastern parts together with the choir had a cross vault at the same time (in 1889-90).

The cross-vaulted porch is also from the late Gothic period. At the south side of the choir was in 1616 built a chapel where the iron anchors refer to Anne Krabbe. Its room opens in a round arch to the choir. The whole building had a thorough renovation in 1889-90, in which the walls of the choir and nave were re-walled. Inside the vault of the nave was replaced by a flat beamed ceiling, the choir vault was more or less renewed. In connection to the renovation fragments of frescoes were discovered, but they were white-washed again. In 1947 the church was restored by architect A. Skyum, a large window was placed in the western side of the tower, the organ-gallery was removed and the organ lowered.

Of the inventory is a Lutheranian triptychon altarpiece from 1591 with a painting from 1684. A Romanesque granite font with a smooth bacin. The pulpit is a simple Renaissance work with the year 1615 in paint (renovated 1890 & 1947) . In the nave is a painting by Th. Wegener "Christmas Night". Church bell from the end of the 1800s, recast from a bell from 1565.

South of the nave is a Romanesque granite gravestone with carved crosses. In the wall of the chapel is a large but damaged gravestone with figure portraits of Erik Kaas, + 1598 and his two wives, Berete Seefeld, + 1593, and Anne Krabbe, who put up the stone in 1607; it is surrounded by frescoe-decorations. In the choir a memory table for justitsråd/herredsfoged Hvass, + 1867. Outside in the wall of the chapel a memory table from 1821 for generalmajor H.J. Rodenborg.


The chalk comes out in banks and dunes in the parish
and is used in Industry.

Names in the Middle Ages and 1600s:Bælum (* 1231 Beflum, 1390 Beylum, 1455 Bælum); Lille Brøndum (* 1498 Lidell Brøndum); Smidie ( * 1453 Smydi, 1455 Smedy); Dragsgård ( * 1404 Draff, * 1422 Dragxgaard); Vorgård
( Woregardh, -gordh); Bælumgård * 1456 Bælmgaardt); Rismølle ( 1504 Riss-, Riise Mølle); Blæsborg ( 1664 Blesborig).

Vorgård (in Bælum parish) was sold by Mogens Kolde to hr. Anders Jacobsen Bjørn, who in 1489 is the owner of V. After his death in 1490 V. came to his son hr. Jacob Andersen Bjørn, + ab. 1524, and after him to his children Anders Jacobsen Bjørn, + 1536, and Dorte Jacobsdatter Bjørn, + 1562, married to Oluf Glob. Vorgård was inherited by her sibling's son Jens Kaas (Sparre-Kaas), + 1578, vasal at Elfsborg, and after him his brother, rigsråd Bjørn Kaas, + 1581. His son Erik Kaas died childless in 1598, and when the funeral had to take place, the ladegården (farm-building) burnt down with all the harvested corn. His widow Anne Krabbe died in 1626 and the vasals at Stjernholm and Halstedkloster were ordered to take care of the question about the interitance with Palle Rodsteen and his co-heirs. A quarrel led to that Erik Kaas' sister Helvig, widow after Hannibal Gyldenstierne, got all the Vorgård-estate, which after her death in 1638 came to her brother's daughter Anne Nielsdatter Kaas, + 1649. Families: Kaas, Rostrup, Skeel, Rodsteen etc. up til present. Some outparcelling. The sidewing of Vorgård, which probably is from 1550-75, is listed in class B.


A farm in Himmerland

Dragsgård was a main-farm, in 1422 Nis Ovesen of Drag, + 1437, was mentioned as the owner. Erik Kaas' widow Anne Krabbe pawned it in 1623 to Falk Gøye, who in 1635 sold his part to Palle Rodsetten whose wife Ingeborg Skeel owned Vorgård. Families: Rodsteen, v. Deden, Urne, Bødker, Glud etc.

Gerholm was in 1422 exchanged by Niels Ovesen of Dragsgård to bishop Lave Glob in Viborg. In 1477 the væbner (knight) Jes Kolde lived in Gerholm. His daughter Inger married Niels Henriksen Hvas of Gerholm, + after 1525, who in 1496-1517 was the owner. Families: Hvas, Kaas (Sparre-Kaas), Munk (Vinranke), Skeel, Rodsteen, v. Deden etc. up til present.


Horses grassing by a gravehill

Nørgård was in the 1400s owned by fru Susanne Nielsdatter Rosenkrantz, after whom it in 1455 came to her brother Ludvig Nielsen Rosenkrantz, who claimed it by law in 1463. His daughter's daughter Elsebe Gyldenstierne is the owner in 1544 and 1545, in 1556 and 1562 her brother-in-law Mester Mads Hvid of Estvadgård, in 1572 his daughter Anne Hvid, widow after Albert Høeg Banner. Families: Lunge (Dyre), Jelstrup, Kaas, Meldahl, v. Folsach etc. In 1874 sold to Bælum-Solbjerg municipality.

Korsgård was owned in 1428 by væbner Jes Pedersen. In 1455 hr. Otte Nielsen Rosenkrantz had K. after his sister fru Susanne. Families: Kaas (Sparre-K). In 1694-1738 it was a part of Lindenborg estate. Outparcelling in the 1780s.

Klostergård in Bælum in 1455 , the owner Tim Nielsen Rosenkrantz of Mariager Kloster. 1664 Elisabeth Rodsteen.


A view to Lille Vildmose, the eastern border of the parish.

In the southeastern part of Sønderskov was a sacred spring, St Luris Kilde.

Listed prehistorics: One longhill and 34 hills, mainly in the hillside in the southern part of the parish. 3 impressive Baunehøje south of Bælum and two hills at Vorgård. The former very large Brøndumhøj is now only 6 m in height.
Demolished or destroyed: One longhills and 20 hills.

At Brogård is a kitchen midden, at Agerbjerggård was found a grave from Germanic Iron Age.

Source: Trap Danmark, Aalborg amt, 1961.


photo Bælum kirke, Vildmose etc. 2003, 2006, 2007: grethe bachmann