Gullev church, Gullev kirke, Houlbjerg herred, Viborg amt.

Gullev church, ab. 20 km southeast of Viborg.

Gullev parish, Houlbjerg herred, Viborg amt.

Gullev church has apse, choir and nave from the Romanesque period and a late Gothic porch to the south. The Romanesque building is in granite ashlars upon a bevelled plinth.the apse has a little blurred profiled cornice. Both original doors are kept, the south door, which is still in use, has a tynpanum with a carved figure of the crucified Christ, wearing a long robe. The bricked-up northdoor has kragsten and rundbuestik  (halfcircular band-decoration). Upon the north side of the nave and the choir are kept Romanesque windows with monolite-lintels, while the windows of the apse are partly re-newed. At the reformation period a porch in monk bricks with a round arched door was built in front of the south door -  a point arched "mirror" of the porch continues up into the roof gable, where it is flanked by two point arched glares. The inside of the church has a beamed ceiling, also the apse, where the original vault was taken down, while the choir arch with profiled kragbånd is kept. Above the western section of the nave was in 1769 built a beamed  ridge turret with pyramid spire.

The Romanesque communion table is in granite ashlars, and the elegant altarpiece is in late Baroque with Rococo-tendencies, made by Mathias Ulrichsen Sartz. The later made wings were acc. to tradition made by a village artist, Søren Mikkelsen. The painting in the large field is from the 1800s. Slender candlesticks from the Renaissance-period. A Romanesque granite font with double lions. A pulpit by the same master as the altarpiece and with a sounding board by the before mentioned village artist. In the porch two gravestones with figures, one from 1653 for Christen Christensen in Bøgeskov, the other probably for his son.



















Ove Jensen of Gullev is mentioned in 1329.

Else Mikkelsdatter Due of Torp, widow after Anders Munk (Bjælke-Munk) gave in 1505 Enggård in Gullev to Helligåndshuset in Randers, which prior in 1508 took guardian ship of the farm. It was by law given to Niels Lunov of Rugård, whose father Jesper Lunov (probably + 1498) had bought it from fru Karine Hinds (mentioned in 1479). In 1586 Niels Lunov's son Christoffer Lunov litigated about the farm.

There were  two sacred springs in the parish, Sct Hans kilde in the southeastern corner of the church yard, and a spring in Gullev hedebakker (heather hills).


Humstrup (1683 Humstrup (s) Fald) a name of a field in Gullev, must originally have been the name of a settlement. A farm in Gullev, named Gullevskov (1396 Gudløffskoff) was deeded by the "sisters" (nuns) Maren Christensdatter and Kirsten Olufsdatter of Tvilum kloster shortly before 1400.

Listed prehistorics: Kettinghøj in the parish border towards Sahl.
Demolished or destroyed: a longhill and 40 hills, in a hill at Gullev was found a house urn.

Along Gudenå river are several settlements from the Gudenå culture. In Flaskemosen (a moor) was found a depot from late Stone Age with 6 axes and 2 chisels. A decorated bronze axe was found at Bøgeskov and a bronze sword in Gudenå river.

Names from the Middle Ages: Gullev (1329 Gutteløff, 1355 Gutheslef); Bøgeskov (1415 Bøgeskouff); Nøddelund (1415 Nødelund).  

GB

    
Source: Trap Danmark, Viborg amt, 1962. 

photo: borrowed from Google Earth, gb