Bække church / Bække kirke, Anst herred, Ribe amt.

       
Bække church has a choir, nave and western tower - and a porch to the north. the nave is from the romanesque period in granite ashlars upon a profiled doublt plinth. An original window is kept as walled-in window to the north, while the southern windows are from a rebuild in late Middle Ages or Renaissance. The original doors are both walled-in, a thympanum from the south door is inserted in the south wall of the choir.   The choir arch is preserved with kragsten, while it seems that the choir was rebuilt in the late Middle Ages.  The walls are raw granite boulder, monk bricks and a few ashlars.  In the gable are three round arched flat niches.The porch is in bricks and has a curved Renaissance gable with flat niches; it is used as a tool room.  The tower was built in 1922  from voluntary contributions, and the main entrance is in the northside. The church is partly white-washed, and the roof is lead and tiles. The choir has a flat board ceiling and the nave a board ceiling with rosettas, similar to Anst church, but simpler.

tympanon

lapidarium

Upon the wall of the nave were found traces of frescoes. The walled communion table is framed by an antepedium. The altar piece was given by Johanne Sørensen, née Prüsse, in 1941; a painting in a carved frame. Heavy altar candelabres in late Gothic shape. The monolite granite font with a truncated cone-foot is probably Romanesque. South German baptismal bowl with Habsburg-coat of arms from ab. 1550. A small carved crucifix at the pulpit is probably from after the Middle Ages. Richly carved pulpit from 1638 with biblical reliefs ; The sounding board is partly re-newed and with a new decoration. The nave has high wall-panels in Renaissance-style. The pews are from about the same time, the late 1500s; the parish clerk stool has a late Gothic look. An organ-gallery is furnished above the tower room. The bell was cast by Adam Nielsen in Kolding in the year 1600. Some saint-figures from the church are kept at the museum Koldinghus.

forvitret mandshoved på mur

Skødegård belonged earlier to Vorbasse sogn (parish) and was transferred to Bække sogn in 1584, when the king established sheep-breeding, and it was also a hunting farm. In 1634 the sheep were given up, and S. became a copyhold farm under Koldinghus castle. In the times of the Pontoppidan's Atlas there was still the ruin of a royal hunting house by the lake.

runesten ved kirken

In the parish was earlier a large stone, Svingelands- or Svinglingstenen, which was cleaved in the late 1700s (brought to nørholm and made into stairs and trough). An old legend from Saxo says that Harald Blåtand was about to bring the stone to his mother Thyra's hill in Jelling, but gave up when a man gave him an answer to his question, if he had ever seen a man draw a larger burden - and the man said that he had recently seen his son Svend draw all the kingdom of Denmark to himself. burialis 

Klebæk høje

                                                                             

Listed prehistorics: A long dolmen with two demolished rooms and 14 hills, of which 7 , all small, are in a group north east in the parish.  Furthermore Bækkemonumentet or Klebæk høje (1638 Karls legoms høye): two hills and a row of large raised stones, of which one has a rune-inscription;  new examinations have shown that it is actually an impressive stone-ship with the rune stone in one end and one of the hills in the other, since one row of stones have been removed, but the holes from the stone-places are traceable.

Demolished or destroyed: Two long dolmens and 117 hills. in the demolished Høghøj were two flint daggers, a slate-jewelry, 3 amber pearls, a pålstav (war axe) and a gold-spiral ring.


The rune stone in the Bækkemonumentet is 1,25 m tall; it is from the viking period and has the inscription: Revne and Tobbe made these kuml after their mother Vibrog. ( Revne og Tobbe gjorde disse kumler efter deres moder Vibrog). Another rune stone, now upon a small hill between Bække church and the road, was found in 1810 in the church dike; its inscription is: Tue, Ravn's descendant, and Funden and Gnyble, those three made Thyre's hill. (Tue, Ravn's ætling, og Funden og Gnyble, de tre gjorde Thyres høj).

In Kragelund, east of  Ribe-Vejle country road, are listed traces of a road.

Names from the Middle Ages:
Bække (1231 Bæcky, 1330-48 Bekky); Kragelund (1400t. Kraglundt, Offuer Kragelundt, 1499 Nedher Kraghelwndh); Asbo (1462 Asphowet); Skødegård (1400t.?Skiøde, 1562 Skøde, 1584 Skødegaard).

Source: Trap Danmark, Ribe amt 1965.

photo Bække/Klebæk høje 2003/2007: grethe bachmann

Billum church / Billum kirke, Vester Horne herred, Ribe amt.

Billum church, ab.10 km west of Varde
Billum sogn, Vester Horne herred, Ribe amt.
 
The white-chalked Billum church with leaden roof has a richly furnished apse, choir and nave and a later added sacristy, porch and tower. It was in its original look a fine example of the Ribe-district's tufa-stone churches.  The Romanesque core, which is the apse, the choir and the nave, is built upon a granite-plinth, while the tufa-walls are parted in reliefs and round-arch friezes, but they were somewhat renewed with bricks in a restore in 1880. A walled-in window is above the door of the sacristy, all other windows in Romanesque shape seem to be placed in their original place, but they have all been re-newed. Both doors of the nave are kept, the north door is walled-in, the south door is still in use. The added buildings are all from the late Middle Ages and built in monk bricks. The sacristy has a cross-vault, the tower has smooth gables, while the bottom tower room has a cross-vault and opens to the nave in a high, narrow arcade. The inside of the church is unusually high, it has beamed ceilings in choir and nave, while the apse has a half-cupola vault - the choir was earlier cross-vaulted. The Romanesque choir arch is preserved with profiled kragbånd.


 





The communion table is built in tufa-stone, upon this lies a granite-plate with a reliquary. The altar piece is a Renaissance-carved work, undoubtedly from the beginning of the 1600s, built into one large piece, divided into three parts with Tuscany pillars, sidewings and a top-piece, divided into two parts. In the fields are placed the original paintings (in 1965) . A Romanesque granite font and a south German baptismal bowl from ab. 1575. The pulpit, carved year 1634, is decorated with Ionian pillars as a frame around arcade-fields with relief-carved images of the four Evangelists. At one of the gables of the pews is carved "Elin Gødis 1581". The church owns a medieval wooden sculpture. Furthermore rests of a Mary-altar. In the Mary-figure was in 1918 found 19 coins from Chr. II's and king Hans' rule - they are now in the National Museum. Finally a late medival altar cupboard. In the sacristy a priest- or confessional-stool, similar to the stool in Janderup church and a small series pastorum 1750. The bell with minuskel-inscription is from 1432, cast by master Peter Jensøn on request of the parish priest hr. Jacob. In a restore in 1956 all the inventory was cleansed and painted, and the tower was face-walled. In 1954 was brought to light a medieval painted frieze with coat of arms.




Billumgård was in 1580 a noble-farm, which belonged to Knud Henriksen. In 1635 Otte Kruse's widow fru Sophie Staverskov exchanged it to Ribe chapter. In 1722 the king conveyed it to Peder Endorph at Hennegård.

In Kelst plantation is seen a cross of turf in the heather, the cross-arms are 4,7 m long and 1,6 m broad, here was once a church, Højbjerg church; a lime-tree is plant in the middle of the cross.
In Klokkepyt north of Billum was Billum church bell said to be cast.

In Billum church were in 1954-55 found 88 coins spread, of which 39 Danish coins from Valdemar II till Frederik VIII.

In a digging at a farm in Tarp were in 1818 found 22, mostly German speciedalers, and many little coins (last year 1642).

Listed prehistorics: 6 hills, of which 4 in a group at Billum heath north of the village.
Destroyed or demolished: 16 hills.

A small tuft burial-site from Celtic Iron Age is known from the parish.

Names from the Middle Ages and 1600s:
Billum (1324 Bælium) ; Tarp (1342 Belium thorp, 1486 Tarp, 1494 Torp); Hannevang (1291 Hanærwangh); Billumgård (1638 Billomgaard); Kærgård (1661 Wed Kier, 1688 Kiern boell).

Source: Trap Danmark, Ribe amt, 1965. 
photo Billum church 2003: grethe bachmann