Skals church / Skals kirke, Rinds herred, Viborg amt.

Skals church, ab. 10 km north of Viborg.

Skals parish, Rinds herred, Viborg amt. 

Skals church has a Romanesque choir and nave with late Gothic additions: a tower to the west, a porch to the south and a cross arm to the north. The Romanesque building is in granite ashlars upon a karnis-profiled plinth. Under the roof overhang are kept some strange wooden planks with carved round arch friezes. The rectangular side door is still in use while the north door is bricked-up. In the choir are kept three re-opened  arched windows with monolith-lintels and a couple of other lintels are inserted in the eastern dike of the church yard. West of the south window of the choir is inserted a picture ashlar with a male head, which reminds about the head upon the font. Choir and nave have beamed ceilings. and the choir arch (without kragsten)  is extended. The late Gothic west tower in re-used ashlar material and monk bricks has a vaulted bottom room and opens in an earlier bricked-up round arch towards the nave. Its walls are facing-walled
(on the southside are iron numbers A K K V 1737 - Andrea Kirstine Kjærulf), and it is finished by a leaden pyramid spire. The porch in monk bricks is without any special details, like the facing-walled cross arm to the north, which has a round arched arcade towards the nave and a beamed ceiling. The walls were very re-bricked in a thorough restoration in 1890 and 1900.

The altarpiece is a pretty joiner work in early Renaissance ab. 1580-1590, restored in 1923 and with a biblical painting from 1929. Altar chalice from the late 1600s with a stamp for Mikkel Jensen, Aalborg Candelabres 1618 with initials OL SK. A Romanesque, but very broken-up granite font with lion and deer and a male head and with probably later carved letters V L O P. A South German dish from ab. 1550. A simple pulpit from the 1600s. Pews from various periods 1) 1577 with the coat of arms of Otte Lunov and Inger Eriksdatter Blik; 2) 1608; 3) 1632. A bell without inscription, probably from the late 1500s. Gravestone for Margrete Søfrensdatter (+ 1735) with a lead plate.


Holmgård belonged in 1471-85 Stig Vesteni, in 1487 is mentioned Thames in H., in 1561 Otto Lunov (+ ab. 1583), in 1604 his son Laurids Lunov (+ before 1616), and in 1616-24 his son Otte Lunov. In 1638 it was owned by Sophie Brahe (+ 1659), widow after rigsmarsk Jørgen Lunge, then owned by Jens Juel of Frøslevgård, who in 1661 sold it to Manderup Due's (Taube) widow Anne Skeel (+ 1662). H. came to the son Jørgen Due (Taube) and in an exchange after him in 1683 to his brother Jørgen Skeel Due (Taube), who in 1696 sold the farm to dr. Frans Reenberg (+ 1727), who in 1715 sold it to kancelliråd Bent Jespersen (+ 1728).His widow Cathrine Winther had to do array, and H. came to Anders Kjærulf of Bjørnsholm (+ 1735), whose daughter Andrea Kirstine Kjærulf in 1747 married konferensråd Henrik Hjelmstierne, who in 1750 deeded it to generalmajor Christian Ditlev Lüttichau of Tjele. In 1755 it came to Thomas Lund of Slumstrup, who in 1756 sold it to Mathias Wassard from København (+ 1774), whose widow Elisabeth Cathrine Aagaard in 1784 sold H. to her son-in-law købmand Søren Sørensen in Hobro (+ 1814). In 1796 it was sold to Christen Friis of Halkær. He transferred his rights to the two High Court Judges Søren Gierulf and Peder Severin Fønss and to by- and herredsfoged Th. Wissing,who 1798 got a deed of H. and in 1799 sold H.and Skals sogn's (parish) 2 taxes and 2 farms to Ole C.S. Lottrup, who in 1826 sold it and the taxes to Århus stift (diocese), who in 1832 again deeded if to Ole Lottrup.
Later owners: Chr. F Jensen and Viggo Holstein-Rathlou; Emil Holstein-Rathlou; Carl Vilhelm Niels Borup, a konsortium and outparcelling.

Tyge Jensen of Skals is mentioned in 1365. Thomas Blok deeded in 1345 a farm at the same place to his brother Gunnulv Blok.

Skals was in 1440 and 1649 one of 12 canon praebendes (income) at Viborg cathedral. The Viborg chapter had besides at Skals å (river) some "kannikefiskeri" ( canon-fishing), which was rather important. 

From disappeared farms are mentioned in Skals Bloksgård (1529 Blocksgard), which was owned by Peder Block of Nørreby, and in Ejstrup Østergård (1470 Østergaardt), which in the late 1400s was in guardian by Anders Lounkær of Balle.

A sacred spring was found in a valley at Ejstrup.

Listed prehistorics: 8 hills
Demolished or destroyed:  4 passage graves, 3 hellekister ( stone cists) and 45 hills. The passage grave Stenshøj had a 5 1/2 m long chamber and in the upper layers were found 3 flint daggers, in the bottom layer a point necked axe (Stone Age) and several amber pearls. The two other passage graves Store Bondehøj and Klovenhøj contained flint daggers, the last mentioned also single grave clay pots. In the stone cist Hvilehøj were 3 flint daggers.

Southwest in the paris have been noted a couple of kitchen middens and upon a settlement in the skals river valley close to Holmgård were found a number of  tværpile. 
Close to Holmgård were also found two necklaces from Bronze Age and a gold treasure from German Iron Age with 6 bracteates, a pragt-bøjlenål ( a special magnificent jewel) and 28 glass pearls.

Names from the Middle Ages:Skals (1345 Skalnes, 1471 Skals); Skringstrup (1477 Skrængstrop); Ejstrup (1470 Estrup); Nørdam (1497 Nørredam); Holmgård (1471 Holmegaard).


Source: Trap Danmark, Viborg amt, 1962.    


photo: borrowed from Google earth, gb 2013.