Pederstrup church /Pederstrup kirke, Nørlyng herred, Viborg amt.

Pederstrup Church, ab. 12 km northeast of Viborg
Pederstrup sogn, Nørlyng herred, Viborg amt


The small church without a tower is placed in the southern part of Pederstrup village upon a slope which falls down to Rødsø lake among heather and junipergrown hills. It is a Romanesque ashlar-building, consisting of choir and nave and a newer porch to the north. The terrain upon the church yard has over the years raised so much that there are now three steps down from the porch to the floor in the nave. The bricked-up south door's frames are still placed like they were, but the thympanum seems lowered. The north door behind the porch is still in use. Two Romanesque windows are preserved in the north and south wall of the choir, outside probably at present, since the walls of the nave were re-walled in 1880-05. The church bell is placed in an opening in the west gable.



Inside are beamed ceilings in the choir and nave, the choir arch seems changed. Upon the walled communion table hangs an old altar cloth in flowered silk from the 1700s. The altar piece is a joinery from ab. 1600, re-made with new wings 1937; in the large field a painting from 1847. The Romanesque granite font is the only lion font in Nørlyng herred (district) . A simple pulpit in Renaissance, in front of this a parish clerk chair with carved year 1635. A medieval crucifix hangs upon the south wall of the nave, while two other Gothic figures are upon the western wall. At the pulpit is an octagonal lysskjold (light shield) from the end of the 1600.


Behind the church

Names in the Middle Ages :
Pederstrup (1363 Pæderstærp); Dalsgårde (1353 Dalsgarth).

Laurids Nielsen (Viffert?) of Dalsgård is mentioned 1353; the farm was in 1449 by Ove Tagesen (Reventlov) and fru Gissel Podebusk conveyed to Skt. Hans Kloster in Viborg.

Listed prehistorics: Two hills of which Bondehøj north in the parish is rather large. Furthermore a listed area with old road traces.
Demolished or destroyed: 37 hills. - At Løvelbro was found an unusually pretty sword with preserved hornhilt from late Bronze Age. From Pederstrup origins a late Bronze Age finding with 2 arrow heads, a necklace and a bøjlenål ( brooch).

Source: Trap Danmark, Viborg amt,1962.



photo Pederstrup kirke 2003: grethe bachmann