Friday, August 10, 2012

Mårslet church / Mårslet kirke, Ning herred, Aarhus amt.


Mårslet Church, ab. 9 km south of Aarhus
Mårslet sogn, Ning herred, Aarhus amt.

The eastern part of Maarslet parish has a very hilly terrain with hills above 100 m and 114 m as the highest point, but also deep valleys, where Giberå-river runs through and out to Moesgård Strand. Several of the hillsides are forested,, but the largest forest is the very visited Moesgård skov with the idyllic Skovmølle. The very visited popular beach at Moesgård is a part of Århus.


The outflow of Giberå at Moesgård Strand.

Mårslet church lies in the middle of the village, which has grown rather big during the last decades and now is almost a suburb of the second-largest town in Denmark, Århus. The church has a Romanesque choir and nave with a late Gothic tower to the west and a porch to the south. The Romanesque section is in granite ashlars. The south door with ornaments is in use, while the north door is bricked-up as an inside niche. Some original windows have been changed, others are bricked-up. On the north side of choir and nave are traces of windows; one window on the north side of the nave has been re-opened. In the late Gothic period was built cross vaults, in the choir two bays, and in the nave three plus a very narrow one. The pointed tower arch is extended. The tower was built in the late Gothic period in monk bricks. The bottom room has a beamed ceiling, but from the beginning it had two cross vaults. In the south side is a bricked-up flat curved door, where the niche is used as a tool-room. The bell-storey-work has small double openings in large frames. The tower was partly face walled in 1779 and has a pyramid spire. The porch is also late Gothic in monk bricks. The roof has flat roof plates (a beaver-tail-roof).


The beaver-tail-roof.


The altar piece upon the ashlar-walled communion table is a painting from 1888 given by baron C. Gyldenkrone. The earlier altar piece from 1682 with the coat of arms of Wilhelm baron Gyldenkrone and Regitze Sophie Vind is today in "Den Gamle By" in Århus. Heavy baluster-shaped candelabres ab. 1625. Romanesque granite font with double lions and male heads, probably made by the same stone mason as the font in Framlev. A Netherland bowl from ab. 1625. The pulpit is a pretty joinery in Renaissance from 1603, partly with the original colours and naive evangelist-paintings. Contemporary sounding board. Bell from 1594 cast by Matthias Benninck.



Mårslet church yard.

An epitaph from 1641 for Peder Nielsen, bishop Thestrup's great-grandfather and wife Ingeborg Pedersdatter Fogt, was placed by the son, Rasmus Pedersen Thestrup from Århus. The epitaph has been restored in 2009. A black and golden stone tablet for parish priest Madts Bergenhammer (+ 1727) and wife Kirsten Lipper, (+ 1727). A wooden tablet with funny angel-figures as a remembrance of setting up a chandelier in 1721 in connection to the wedding of a priest's daughter. In the east wall of the porch a grave stone , probably Romanesque, at the church yard another stone with three crosses and the name HALDA in majuskels. In the very high dike, which in some places is 2,5 m high, is a fine portal to th west.

In 1486 is mentioned the væbner Orm in Skomstrup. Later S. belonged to Anders Ebbesen (Galt)(+ 1529) and his brother rigsråd Peder Ebbesen (Galt)(+ 1548), then Jost Andersen (Ulfeld) of Østergård and Moesgård (+ 1548), whose daughter's son Niels Friis (of Vadskærgård) (+ 1651) in 1625 wrote himself of the farm . His son Mogens Friis made S. into a large estate and sold in 1662 S. together with Moesgård and 2 mills, 125 farms and bol and 32 houses to Gabriel Marselis (+ 1667) whose son Wilhelm Marselis 18/9 1673 raised S. into a barony in the name Vilhelmsborg, at the same time he was enobled an got the name Gyldenkrone. After his death 1683 the widow Regitze Sophie Vind (2. married to baron Jens Juel) owned the barony, which at her death was inherited by her son Christian Gyldenkrone (+ 1746). The Gyldenkrone family owned it until 1921. Sold 1950 to Århus Kommune. The present main building is listed in class B was built in 1842-44 by baron O.C.L.E.Gyldenkrone. Today Vilhelmsborg is Denmark's center for horse-racing.


Moesgård main building

Moesgård sems to have been established as a main farm by Jost Andersen (Ulfeld) of Skomstrup and Østergård(+ 1563), his widow Anne Kaas (Sparre-K.) lived still 1583, and from 1614 the daughter Helvig Ulfeld of M. is written of M; she died unmarried 1638, and the farm came to her sister's son Johan Brockenhuus of Lerbæk (+ 1648), whose widow Helvig Bille sold M., which came to another of Helvig Ulfeld's sister's sons, Niels Friis (of Vadskærgård) and of Favrskov and Skomstrup (+ 1651) whose son Mogens Friis in 1662 sold M. and Skomstrup to Gabriel Marselis. M. which burnt down during the war with Sweden came after this to Skomstrup (Vilhelmsborg). Owners the family Gyldenkrone until the late 1800s. In 1960 sold to Århus amt . the main building listed in class A. Today Forhistorisk Museum Moesgård.

Photos from the area:

Moesgård Skov


Skovmøllen , a cosy restaurant in Moesgård skov


The working water mill and an Iron Age house

Names in the Middle Ages and 1600s.:
Mårslet (* 1360 Mordslet, 1433 Morslet); Testrup (1465 Tisstrop); Hørret (* 1473 Hørit); Langballe (1544 Langballo); Obstrup (1580 Obestrup); Moesgård (1463 Mossgard); Skovmøllen (1610 Threskoumølle, 1664 Schouff Mølle).

Listed prehistorics: At Moesgård a very damaged long dolmen and a small hill : at Vilhelmsborg a hill.
Demolished or destroyed: 5 dolmens and other stone graves , a stone cist and 30 hills. Some Iron Age graves were found, at Testrup tilework was found a clay vessel with 8 Roman silver coins.

Source: Trap Danmark, Århus amt, 1963.


photo Mårslet kirke 2002; Moesgård & others: 2007: grethe bachmann

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