As church / As kirke and Palsgård, Bjerre herred, Vejle amt.

The whitewashed, tiled church, which lies upon a hillside close to the waters of Kattegat, has a Romanesque  choir and nave, radically rebuilt ab. 1300, a late Gothic western addition, a west tower and a porch to the south.  The original parts of the building are in rough granite stone with corner ashlars and without a visible plinth. Only small details are visible from the original walls, like in the bottom of the south side of the choir, a part of the east side of the choir and the north side of the nave, where the bricked up door  is traceable and two round arched windows are bricked up. In ab. 1300 was a large part of the walls renewed or even face walled with red monk bricks.  In the middle of the 1400s was in the choir built one and in the nave three cross vaults in East Jutland type upon protruding piers, and the choir arch was remade; later was the nave extended to the west with an eight ribbed cross vault, and in the latest decades of the Middle Ages were added a narrow tower and a cross vaulted porch. The look of the building is highly marked by a restoration in the end of the 1700s. The building was restored in 1904 and in 1959.                               

As church vicarage

In 1904 were found fragmentaric frescoes from 1515, among others an illustration of the fable about the fox and the stork, and the coat of arms of bishop Jens Iversen Lange. The inventory is mostly from 1904-05, since most of the old inventory was removed - some of it is in Horsens Museum. The new inventory is in a flashy, neo Gothic style , made in polished oak and designed by Hector Estrup. The altar piece is a crucifixion-painting, a copy from a Spanish baroque-painter. Chalice from 1758 with the coat of arms of Bille and Arenfeldt. Small, late Gothic candelabres. A small crucifix from the middle of the 1600s. The font, the pulpit, the pews and the manor-stools are all from 1904-05. The old pulpit was a good Rococo work by Jens Jensen, while the altar piece and a gallery were made by Jens Hiernøe. A new model of curch ship, a five master bark. A bell from 1510, cast by Johannes Pauli.

Palsgård is said to belong to hr. Jacob Kalf in the 1400s; his son Axel Knob (Kalf) let build a house in 1412 according to an inscription stone, which still existed in 1806. Its later owner-history is very complicated, caused by several  inherited services. Hr. Ludvig Nielsen (Rosenkrantz) is written to P. in 1461 and 1482; his sons Niels and Claus and more than 10 grandchildren from the families Skeel, Gyldenstierne, Juel and Munk (Lange-Munk) owned parts in the estate, while other parts belonged to members of the families Galt, Munk (Vinranke-Munk), Pax and more.  A descendant of hr. Ludvig Nielsen was Ingeborg Arenfeldt ( + 1658), whose husband Ernst Normand of Selsø (+ 1645) collected the estate. The daughter Kirsten Normand brought in 1658 P. to her husband Joachim Fr. Pentz of Åstrup, who became ruined during the Swedish wars, whereafter the kansler Peter Reedtz in 1665 became the owner. After his death in 1674 was P. inherited by his son Holger Reedtz (+ 1707), his widow baroness Berte Christine Juel (+ 1732) and son Niels Juel Reedtz (+ 1742), his widow Mette Johanne Arenfeldt (+ 1762, who was m. second time to Henrik Bille of Holbækgård) and son Holger Reedtz (+ 1803), who in 1795 sold P. to his son Niels Juel Reedtz (+ 1830). From him  came P. to his son Holger Chr. Reedtz (+ 1857), who established an observatorie at the farm. His heirs sold in 1877 P. to prins Emil R.O. Schoenaich-Carolath. He sold it 1898 to baron Frederik (Fritz) Wedel-Jarlsberg, whose widow fru Elisabeth Schou (later married Falbe-Hansen) owned it until her death in 1952; the heirs Herbert Schou and fru Gertrud Andersen let it be transferred to a family-company Schou-Palsgård.  












The white main-building is placed upon a square castle bank above  steep dry moats. The water from As Vig reached close to the farm in the end of the 1900s. The three-winged building is listed in class B.

The farm buildings are built in various periods, they are partly half timbered and partly in boulder. In connection to these were built the factory Credin.

The park is one of the largest in the country and one of the best well-kept. Foreign secretary Holger Reedtz was an avid botanist and introduced many rare trees and growths, and baron Wedel-Jarlsberg laid out large areas for lawns and created a grand entrance from the west.

Foreign secretary Holger Reedtz established in 1843-44 an astronimical observatorie in a small building in front of the main bulding,  and he built in 1853 a costy equipped observatorie in boulder. The observatorie has later been rebuilt into a temple-like pavillon with  fluted columns.

A memorial obelisk was raised for the family Reedtz in 1866.    

Northeast of Palsgård at the beach is a medieval castle bank with two banks, of which the eastern is the smallest, a square bank ,while the western is larger and rectangular . Both banks were once surrounded by water. The western bank is connected with land on the south side. A damn prevents the water from streaming out into the beach. The moats are kept water-filled from the higher placed fields. Upon the banks have been found monk bricks with traces of fire and lumps of melted iron. It seems that the buildings were destroyed by fire.  

Listed prehistorics: At Ringstholm a circular dolmen with a square chamber with a large cover stone, and a hill close to the church.
Destroyed or demolished: two hills, Ashøj which Pont. Atlas mentions as grave hill of king As, is a natural grovel hill. 

From Ringstholm is known a shell heap from early Stone Age. From the farm Holgershåb is known an important settlement from early Roman Iron Age.

Source: Trap Danmark, Vejle amt, 1964. 


photo 2004 and 2011.grethe bachmann (addition of photos from 2004 in November 2012)