Tilst church / Tilst kirke, Hasle herred, Aarhus amt.

Tilst church , photo stig bachman nielsen, naturplan.dk

The whitewashed church in Tilst has a Romanesque choir and nave and a later western tower and southern porch. The original walls are raw, cleaved granite boulder with ashlar-carved corners. From the earliest round arched windows are two left and still in function in the choir - two in the wall of the nave are bricked-up, but is  traceable from outsid. The southdoor is kept with carved ashlars, with a half circular thympanum field and flanked by two columns. Inside the choir arch is kept with heavy various kragsten. The church was in the late Middle Ages overvaulted with one bay in the choir, three in the nave - and a tower was added with an overvaulted bottom room and also a porch. In 1873 was brought up three frescoe apostle.figures from the 1400s and in 1927 three other apostles. In 1934 were found more frescoes, a fine decoration along the ribs and curves of the vaults and a large picture field on the nortside, under the picture are painted drapes. In the eastern vault of the nave was the coat of arms of Jens Iversen Lange - so the frescoes must be made during his time as bishop 1449-82.


Chessboard at a corner of apsis. 














The large altarpiece is a carved work in bruskbarok (a variety of Baroque in interior, DK 1630-60) from the 1600s, it has a painted year 1688 and the initials and coat of arms of Otte Bielke and Beate Rosenkrantz. A Romanesque font with double lions. The pulpit with carved year 1633 is of the Lyngå-type,  with low and a little heavy pillars and small carved evangelist-figures in the fields. The pews with gables and gates are mostly renewed, but an old carved gable from ab. 1600, probably from a parish clerk stool, stands by the entrance. In the porch are four large gravestones.

Christmas-decorated grave with a dog figure.

Bishop Peder Vognsen gave in 1203 some estate in Tilst to the chapter in Århus. Jens Erlandsen's (Galen) widow, Ingeborg, conveyed in 1295 estate in Tilst parish to Broder Degn, a canon in Århus. From 14 farms in Tilst 6 farms still belonged to Århus Chapter in 1648.

Brendstrup is mentioned among the estate which bishop Skjalm Vognsen inherited after his brother Jens and ab. 1210 gave to the cathedral in Århus. The væbner Kjeld Mogensen sold in 1392 a half-farm in B. to archdeacon Peder Gylling, who later gave it to the chapter. From 6 farms of the town 5 farms still belonged to the chapter in 1648.

Brendstrupgård in Brendstrup is from the 1800s, in 1924 owned by Aage Pedersen.

Brendstrup Hovedgård (also called Neder Brendstrup or Brendstrup Nedergård) is from the 1800s, owned in 1933 by A. Nielsen.

Marienlyst at Brendstrup Mark was from the 1800s, in 1910 sold to Århus Amts Udstykningsforening (outparcelling).

There are no listed prehistorics in the parish. There were 34 hills, now demolished.

Names from the Middle Ages:
Tilst (1203 Tislæst, 1295 Tilest);  Geding  (1548 Geddenng, 1573 Gieding); Brendstrup (ab. 1210 Brendistorp).

Source: Trap Danmark, Århus Amt, 1963

  photo 26. December 2011: stig bachmann nielsen, naturplan.dk & grethe bachmann .
 

Gammel Estrup and Fausing church/ Fausing kirke, Sønderhald herred, Randers amt.

 
Gammel Estrup.

When the counts Henrik II and Klaus of Holstein in 1340 gave hertug Valdemar III of Sønderjylland their pawn-rights of Nørrejylland, it was decided that Anders Jensen had to have back his own farm in Estrup, and in the following year he is written of the farm. His widow Johanne Brok (+ 1372), after whom the family took its name, was on the side of the rebels against king Valdemar Atterdag, who because of this destroyed E. in 1359. The son hr. Jens Andersen Brok (+ 1408) was a supporter of the king and later became a drost. His son's son hr. Esge Jensen Brok (+ 1441) inherited E., which then came to his son hr. Lave Brok, who was known for his violent nature, he started to collect the peasant-farms and had in 1469 established Estrup birk(judicial rights) from his etate in Fausing and Auning parish. Estrup birk existed until 1849.

library, foto stig bachmann nielsen, Naturplan.dk

bedroom, foto stig bachmann nielsen, Naturplan.dk

After his death in 1504 E. was owned by his widow Kirstine Pedersdatter(Høeg Banner), who married Peder Lykke of Demstrup; in 1529 the children Niels and Ide Brok entered their paternal heritage and shared E. and Vemmetofte , while the peasant-estate was common. Two families lived at the farm and there was always feuds among them. Ide Brok was married to Trued Ulfstand of Torup (+ 1545), her part was inherited by the son Gregers Ulfstand (+ at E. in 1582) and his son-in-law Carl Bryske (+ 1613). Niels Brok died in 1534, and his widow Jytte Podebusk married Knud Gyldenstierne of Ågård (+ 1560), who from 1540 is written of E. Her children Lave Brok (+ 1565) and Margrethe Brok, married to Jørgen Bille of Ellinge, had both part in E., but Lave's son Eske Brok gathered the estate again by buying out the above mentioned Carl Bryske in 1587. He died in 1625, the last male of his family, and E. came with the daughter Jytte Brok (+ 1640) to Jørgen Skeel of Sostrup (+ 1631) and then to their son, the rich Christen Skeel. In 1638 the farm was inherited by the son Jørgen Skeel (+ 1695), whose widow Benedicte Margrethe Brockdorff ( + 1739) in 1639 established E. as an entailed estate for her son Christen Skeel (+ 1731) who from his other farms established the county Scheel.

The following owners of the entailed estate was his son count Jørgen Scheel (+ 1786), his son's son count Jørgen Scheel (+ 1825), who almost ruined the farm; his son count Christen Scheel (+ 1844), his widow Christiane Pind (+ 1855),  the son count Jørgen Scheel (+ 1926). In 1921 the entailed estate became free property and in 1926 it was sold to Fr. Legarth. In 1928 the main building and the forests were sold to Christen Scheel's son-in-law Valdemar Uttental of Løvenholm, who by Trust deed of 1930 gave the building for a Manor Museum. Estrup is now the frame of a Herregårdsmuseum, an independent  institution of the Ministry of Culture.(today also agricultural museum)

at the agricultural museum

The earlier farm manager-building was hereafter used as a main building of the estate and was in 1937 sold to Olufsen-Ilskov, in 1942 to architect Meulengracht, in 1947 to Einar Hansen and in 1949 to architect E. Johansen;  in 1950 in auction sale bought by master builder S. Andersen and High Court lawyer H.Hansen, who did a new out-parcelling and sold the main parcel to manager Th. Nielsen, Jernit. He renounced the farm in 1957 to his son-in law E. Holck Gregersen.

Gammel Estrup's main building with farm buildings and garden park is overall mentioned as "Jyllands stateligste herregård"(Jutlands most stately manor), and not without reason. Although there have been three fires in farm buildings and stabkes through the last hundred years, the whole complex has kept much brilliance and greatness of the bygone days.

Nothing is known about the Estrup, which was built by the family Brok, after Valdemar Atterdag in 1359 had broken the earliest parts down, but it is possible to tell something about the water castle, which Lave Brok let build in about the year 1500. It was four winged with a gate through the north wing;  the poles of the bridge still stand in the bottom of the moat by the place of the drawbridge. In the present main building Lave Broks "large stone house" is included (the two bottom floors in the west wing). The outer walls in this house are very heavy, more than two meters, in the cellar even three meters thick and dressed outside with large granite ashlars. In the cellar the late medieval crossvaults are kept in the gable rooms. In the top of the building are found rests of a guardian walk and shooting peepholes.

Fausing church, foto stig bachmann nielsen, naturplan.dk

 Fausing church
 The church in Fausing has a choir and nave with a later added western tower, where only the original bottom is left, and a porch to the south. The choir and nave are Romanesque in granite ashlars. The southdoor with a round-stick along the edge and a half circular smooth thympanum is kept, but very crumbled like the ashlars of the south side. The north door is bricked-up and partly destructed by a newer window. 2 Romanesque windows and one in the choir gable are bricked-up. In the south side of the choir is kept a small low-placed round-arched window, probably a leprosy-window. The tower is in granite ashlars and in the same broadth as the nave - and almost from the same time. In the beginning of the 1800s the upper sections of the tower were broken down, and the roof of the nave was extended over the bottom section. A later built ridge turret above the west gable was renewed in 1923, and the bell, which was in a bell-stool on the west gable, is now placed in the ridge turret. The large porch in monk bricks is a late Gothic addition. In the late Middle Ages the choir was over-vaulted with one and the nave with three bays crossvaults. In the tower room -which is in connection to the nave by a large pointed arch - was built a vault, which was later replaced by a beamed ceiling. Upon the vaults of choir and nave were found late medieval frescoes, like coat of arms, partly restored in 1886, but later whitewashed in 1962. The southside of the nave is whitewashed or else the church has blank walls, the roof is lead.














The walled communion table is surrounded by a painted panel. Baroque altar piece from ab. 1650 with a carving and decoration from 1958 by Ernst Trier. Altar candelabres from ab. 1600. An interesting ore baptismal font from ab. 1300. The bowl is carried by three male figures, probably depicting paradise rivers. A a wooden sounding board (the font) kept in the attic. Late Renaissance pulpit from ab. 1635 with reliefs; the stool and the sounding board are probably made by Niels Kock, who signed the pulpit in Auning church. A new decoration. 2 manor pews from ab. 1650 are now in the tower arch. The other pews have gables from the late 1600s. The bell was recast and paid by Jytte Brock of Estrup in 1640. In the southside of the tower room a large grave stone from 1584 with two portrait figures of Gregers Ulfstand Truedsen of Torup and Estrup (+ 1582) and fru Karen Banner, with their son Trud. A Romanesque headstone with cross is walled in the east side of the porch. In the Catholic period was mentioned 2 altar pieces in the church.

Portraits on gravestone: Gregers Ulfstand Truedsen and fru Karen Banner (1582)

Listed prehistorics: 4 hills, of which two are rather large, all lie close in the fields and forest belonging to Gl. Estrup.
Destroyed or demolished: a long dolmen west of Drammelstrup and 33 hills,  mainly placed by Drammelstrup and between Fausing and Gl. Estrup.

Names from the Middle Ages:
Fausing (1379 Faxingh ); Liltved (1464 Lille twedh, 1479 Lilltwedh); Drammelstrup (1467 Drammelstrvp); Grund (1504 Grund march); Gammel Estrup (1. half of 1300s Essendrup, in 1355 Æsendorp, 1463 Æstrop).

Source: Trap Danmark,Randers amt, 1963.

Photo: grethe bachmann & stig bachmann nielsen, Naturplan.dk

Mellerup church / Mellerup kirke, Støvring herred, Randers amt

Mellerup kirke, stig bachmann nielsen, Naturplan.dk

The small church in Mellerup is an ashlar building with choir and nave and a porch at the south . The Romanesque sectiont, the choir and nave, are built in granite ashlars. In the choir gable, where the tip is rewalled with small grey-yellow Flensborg bricks, is a bricked-up Romanesque window, while other two are still in function, one on the north side of the nave, and one on the north side of the choir. Both original doors are kept,the north door is bricked-up, but visible as a niche out and inside, and on the outside equipped with rope windings in the linte. In front of the simple south door  a large porch was built in the late Middle Ages, which heavy walls, built in monk bricks, seem to reveal that this is the bottom of a late Gothic tower. The narrow choir arch is preserved inside with heavy unprofiled kragsten.

Mellerup kirke, stig bachmann nielsen, Naturplan.dk

The Mellerup crucifix

A Renaissance altar piece with the year 1621 and the initials M P T stands upon a granite communion table. Decorated pillars and side wings flank the big field which has a reproduction of Leonardo's "Last Supper". The altar piece earlier had the monograms of Eske Brock and Christence Viffert. The altar candelabres have the coat of arms of Mogens Kaas and Sidsel Friis and the year 1631. A Romanesque font with a rope decoration. A carved Renaissance pulpit, which has double pillars with decorations and intarsia and a carved year 1634, contemporary sounding board and entrance through the wall of the choir arch. A Gotic crusifix upon the wall , showing Christ with a crown of Thorns, restored in 1944 (the Mellerup crucifix). In the western gable a church bell without inscription, from the late Middle Ages; it was earlier in a bell-frame on the church yard. A church ship "Helene Charlotte" was in 1954 given to the church as a memory about a privateer from Mellerup.

At Mellerup is a sacred spring, Maren Tomesdatters kilde, which was used as a healing spring still around 1900.  

Listed prehistorics: 3 hills, Rytterhøj in the northern part of the parish, Tathøj, rather large with a water tank inside town and Stenshøj west of this.

Demolished or destroyed: 9 hills.

At Mellerup was found a settlement from early Roman Iron Age.

Source: Trap Danmark, Randers amt, 1963.
photo: grethe bachmann and stig bachmann  nielsen, Naturplan.dk

Linde church / Linde kirke, Nørhald herred, Randers amt

Linde kirke, foto: stig bachmann nielsen, Naturplan.dk

The church in Linde has a Romanesque choir and nave with a late Gothic tower to the west and a porch from 1837 to the south. The Romanesque building is in granite ashlars. From original details the south door is  preserved, but moved to a new entrance from west, and in the east wall of the choir is a bricked-up round arched window with a monolite lintel. Below the pulpit stand fragments of granite pillars, probably from the north portal -and in the tower are inserted various fragments. The nave has a flat ceiling, while the choir in the late Gothic period ab. 1500 had a cross vault. The choir arch is extended, probably in 1591-92, according to a frescoe inscription. Its kragsten are placed as plinths. The bottom room of the tower had once a pointed arch opening to the west, it is now used as a porch. The porch from 1837 has a portal in rural late Empire. The building was repaired in 1955-56.

In the vault of the choir are frescoe ornaments and birds from ab. 1500, among others a pelican, and upon the triumph wall are fragments of a Doomsday image with apocalyptic horsemen. Altar piece in Renaissance from the beginning of the 1600s, with original painting. Chalice from 1632 given by Jens Pedersøn Lycke, renovated with new cup 1746. Baluster-shaped Renaissance candelabres. Roughly carved Romanesque granite font with lions and deer. Smooth brass bowl from the 1600s. Pulpit in Renaissance with decoration from 1700s, Evangelist portraits. A Romanesque gravestone with procession cross is inserted in the wall of the porch.


Lindegård belonged 1344 and 1347 to Niels Eriksen (Saltensee), 1355 Erik Nielsen (Saltensee), who pawned it to Jens Svendsen, whose son Svend Skobe transferred it in 1401 to queen Margrete, who in 1407 gave L. and Tjæreby to Århus domkirke (cathedral) After the reformation it belonged to hr. Jørgen Lykke of Overgård, who in 1549 exchanged it to the king, who 1558 exchanged it to Mariagerkloster, from where it in 1614 with a desolate mille-site was exchanged to Mogens Kaas (Sparre-K.) under whose farm Støvringgård it was in 1662. In 1765 sold to Lars Christensen.

A sacred well. Skt. Lawes kjeld, is found downside the hills west of Linde Møllebæk (Mill-brook).

Listed prehistorics: 3 large hills, of which two belong to the group Trehøje at a hill north of Mejlby, a little to the west is Halmhøj which is a little out-digged.
Demolished: one hill. - At Torsmark was found a clay pot grave from early Roman iron age.

Source: Trap Danmark, Randers amt, 1963.

photo November 2011: grethe bachmann &; stig bachmann nielsen, Naturplan.dk

Lem church / Lem kirke , Støvring herred, Randers amt.

Lem kirke: stig bachmann nielsen, Naturplan.dk

 Lem church has a Romanesque choir and nave in granite ashlars, a late medieval tower to the west and a porch, probably late Gothic, to the south. Both portals are preserved, decorated with pillars, dice capitals and characteristic for the Randers area: a ribbon bow in the thympanum - the north portal is bricked-up - and a Romanesque window is bricked-up in the choir gable. A Romanesque window preserved in the north side of the choir and a Romanesque monolite lintel in the southern dike of the church yard. The tower in the same broadth as the nave was built in the late Middle Ages in re-used ashlars with plinth-stones from the old west gable of the nave and above in monk bricks. Its vaulted bottom room opens to the nave in a pointed arch arcade, the heavy and probably late Gothic porch is in the bottom in re-used ashlars and monk bricks and above in small, newer stones. The nave inside has a flat plaster loft, while the choir in the late Middle Ages got a cross vault with frescoes, the Romanesque kragsten are preserved.



the portal with a ribbon

Upon the walled communion table is a large Renaissance altar triptychon with side wings and a top field, under the foot is carved the year 1615, and the coat of arms and names of the givers Eske Brock and Christence Viffert in the side wings. In the large field was from 1892- 1948 a painting, which now hangs in the nave, while the original crucifix painting is  restored and put on its old place. Upon the triumph wall hangs a Catholic carved triptychon from ab. 1450 with the earliest known plastic pieta-image in Denmark, probably from the same workshop as the Preetz-tablet in the National Museum. The Romanesque granite font with double lions stands in the choir arch. The pulpit is Renaissance, with pillars and with decorations around portal-fields, given in 1621 by Eske Brock and Christence Viffert, whose coat of arms and names are painted in the fields. A contemporaty sounding board. The bell has the year 1547.




the vicarage

 In the porch is a runestone, found in 1954 in the dike, the preserved part of the inscription is: "- - Ulrik broder sin "( "- - Ulrik brother his)".

Names in the Middle Ages: Lem ( 1407 Lem, 1470 Lææm).

There are no listed prehistorics in the parish, but there were 4 hills.

Source: Trap Danmark, Randers amt, 1963.

photo: grethe bachmann & stig bachmann nielsen, Naturplan.dk