Hinge Church, Mid Jutland, Silkeborg Kommune

Hinge Church, Hinge parish, 12 km north of Silkeborg
(earlier: Lysgård herred, Viborg amt).




Hinge church lies north of Hinge Sø at the village Hinge. The Romanesque sections of Hinge church: apse, choir and nave built in monk bricks are strongly marked by building-works. The church is one of the earliest brick-churches in Denmark, built in the middle of the 1200s, and possibly built by the monks from the nearby Alling Kloster. Time and weather have worn out the bricks -  the original bricks are most visibly seen in the eastern part of the church with a piece of  the original bevelled plinth and a bricked-up window in the apse. The tower was built in 1679 and restored in 1779, a restoration arranged by J.A. Fischer of Allinggård and Grauballegård. The bottom room of the tower functions as a porch, and the tower has a pyramid-spire with a weather vane(with year 1779). The tower is white-washed, while the rest is in blank wall with red tiled roofs.

The apse- and choir arch are rebated and have bevelled corbels. The nave had originally an open roof-stool, but ab. 1530 the church had built-in a flat beamed ceiling. At the same time the frescoes upon the triumph-wall were washed over, they were rediscovered in 1980 and restored in 1984. There are three friezes: the upper and best preserved frieze shows the Passion of Christ in six sections, the second frieze shows the Holy family and the Worship of the Kings, the third frieze shows Paulus. The frescoes were restored by the National Museum. In the frescoes is every violent scene framed . In the thorn-crowning the executioners use all their strength to place the thorn-crown upon the head of Christ. One executioner has a wooden leg, which underlines his negative character

At a restoration in 1952-53 the communion table and the altar rails were moved. The altarpiece is Renaissance, given by hr. Hans Sørensen in 1604, probably from the same workshop as the pulpit. Pewter candelabres, given in 1677 with initials P N S G above M I D. A Romanesque granite font with vertical rope-decoration on the basin and foot like the fonts of the Gødvad-group. A newer baptismal brass bowl and a baptismal pewter jar from ab. 1800. A newer metal crucifix hangs in the choir arch. The pulpit was given by hr. Hans Sørensen and wife Karine Melchiorsdatter, 1612, with 1700s label-paintings. The sounding board was given 1655 by hr. Christen Erichsen and wife Else Hansdatter (restored 1932). Renaissance pews . A small Baroque chandelier in the choir given by Mette Hermansen (+ 1918), two in the choir given 1927 by farmer Jakob Overby. A church bell, given 1761 by Chr. Fischer of Allinggård, cast in Viborg by Caspar König . Many grave memorials, epitaphs, stone tablets. Upon the north wall hangs an epitaph with two fields, paid for by Søren Michelsen (+1597) and wife and by Hans Sørensen (+ 1632) and wife. Hans Sørensen was a brother of the priest Erik Sørensen,  whom Steen Steensen Blicher described in his short story: "Præsten i Thorning". At the churchyard is a Romanesque granite grave stone with a relief cross, and a copy of the stone where Hans Tausen held his first Lutheran sermon. The original stone is now at Viborg Museum.







Frescoes, violent scenes from the Passion

Names in the Middle Ages and 1600s:
Hinge (1333 Hængy); Astrup (*1453 Astrup); Frausing (*1231 Fraxing); Hedehuse (1683 Astrup HeeHuus, 1688 Heed Huuset); Frausinggård (1552 Frausing gord).

The outlawed Peder Jacobsen owned ab. 1300 estate in Hinge. Torsten Mikkelsen of Hinge is mentioned in 1333.

In Hinge lived for many years a "klog mand" (healer), Mads Weis, + 1839, who achieved jus practicandi and established a kurhus (health resort) for people who suffered from leg injury etc.

Listed prehistorics: 3 hills, of which two are in the forest.
Demolished or destroyed: 10 hills.

In a meadow at Hinge Sø was found a large-tooth bone harpoon from early Stone Age, and in Vesterkær a wooden animal-trap, probably from prehistoric time.

Source: Trap Danmark, Viborg amt, 1962; Axel Bolvig, Danmarks Kalkmalerier, 2002.



photo Hinge kirke: grethe bachmann

 

Sindal Old Church, Vendsyssel, North Jutland

Sindal Old Church lies upon a hill in the eastern outskirt of Slotved skov. The earliest part of the church is from the 1100s. In the late Gothic period 3-400 years later the nave was extended to the west which got a stepped gable. The porch was built at approximately the same time. The choir is built in granite ashlars, while the nave mainly is in monk bricks. At the eastern gable are two heavy supporting pillars. The nave and choir have beamed ceilings. The beams in the choir are some of the earliest things in the church and therefore not overpainted.


A reliquary was found in the medieval bricked altar table. It is now at Hjørring Museum. The
granite baptismal font is probably as old as the church itself, the baptismal dish is made in Nürnberg in the 1500s. The crucifix at the northern wall and the candelabres upon the altar table are from before the reformation. The altar chalice was given by the last selvejerbonde (yeoman) of the parish, judge Lars Fus in Taagholt in 1577. The altarpiece is a simpe Renaissance work, the painting is by the Skagens-painter Michael Ancher, who has copied the Spanish court-painter Velasquez' painting "The Crucifixion".


The pulpit from ab. year 1600 has the coat of arms of Anne Krabbe and her two husbands Aksel Viffert and Jerck Kaas. The same coat of arms are seen upon some lord-of- the-manor stools in the back of the church. These stools are the rests of the former pews which was set up by the owner of Baggesvogn, Anne Krabbe. Upon another stool is seen the coat of arms of Sophie Sandberg and Enevold Kruse and the year 1636. Enevold Kruse was Lieutenant colonel and field commander under Christian IV, he was killed in the battle at Lutter am Barenberg in 1626, nine years later his widow bought Baggesvogn, to which Sindal church belonged.

In 1964 the church went through a thorough restoration, new pews were bought and a new organ (Frobenius), and some of the old pews from Anne Krabbe's time were moved to the west end of the church.


Upon the church yard is a bell frame with two bells ,the oldest is made by the caster Peder Lavridsen in 1566, the other with the names Claus Unger and Barbara Galt is from 1696. The church yard is surrounded by an ancient granite boulder dike to the north and south, which is unchanged, but to the east and west the dike has been moved out to make place for a larger church yard.

The vicarage lies south of the church yard , a very pretty timbered building with a thatched roof. The present vicarage was built in 1928 upon the plinth of an earlier vicarage. A section of the old vicarage was rebuilt in the museum-garden in Hjørring as a part of the museum.

source: "Sindal Gl. Kirke - en beskrivelse", udgivet af Sindal Menighedsråd, 2005

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Baggesvogn manor, Vendsyssel, North Jutland

Baggesvogn /GB

Baggesvogn is a manor in Vendsyssel, North Jutland. It lies in Sindal parish, about 14 km northeast of the town Hjørring. The timbered three winged plan was built in 1744. The mid wing and the side wings were bricked in the second half of the 1800s. The yellow washed main building has hipped tile-roofs, and the western main wing's entrance is highlighted with a triangular gable attic above the door.


Under a part of the main building are vaulted cellars which are named medieval, but they more probably origin from the second half of the 1500s. On the north side of the building are kept sections of the old moat system.

landscape by Baggesvogn/GB

The original name of Baggesvogn was Vorn, which means forest. The manor lies upon an old embankment and is still surrounded by moats on the east, north and west side of the main building. The entrance to Baggesvogn is via a bricked up dam, about 20 meters long. The dam is on both sides flanked by a low, heavy wall with doghouses in both ends.  The castle yard if laid with piksten (oval naturestones). The moats, the dam, the doghouses and the castle yeard are all protected.

piksten in a yard./wikipedia

landscape by Baggesvogn /GB

The fine  hilly manor landscape south of Baggesvogn is protected including the beech wood Baggesvogn forest with 100 year old trees. It is the northernest beech wood in Denmark.

Baggesvogn /GB

Baggesvogn was mentioned in the year 1454, when the owner was Hatis Gjødesøn, and in 1458 Jes Ulfsøn was mentioned as the owner of "Worn". The farm probably changed owner quickly since rigsråd Anders Banner of Asdal is the owner in 1462. He transferred Baggesgogn as a vasalry to Hans Bagge after whom the manor got its present name. Usually a vasalry agreement demands the vasal to swear his feudal lord fidelity and pay him regular taxes. This was not the case between Banner and Hans Bagge, which probably was due to a family relation between them, but the agreement can also be seen as a sign of the Banner family's tremendous power and wealth at this time. They were so rich that the income from a vasalry did not play any important role.

The main estate of the Banner family was the North Jutland manor Asdal, but Baggesvogn stayed in their ownership for several generations. The manor was inherited from father to son up to Erik Banner, who was a rigsmarskal for Christian III (1503-1559). At Erik Banner's death in 1554 Iver Krabbe took over Baggesvogn. He was married to Erik Banner's daughter Magdalene Banner. They left only one heir, the daughter Anne Krabbe.



Anne Krabbe spent her last years at Baggesvogn. At her death in 1625 she left no heir, but a very large debt. Baggesvogn was taken over by one of the main creditors, Frank Gøye, who in 1635 sold the manor to Sophie Sandberg. She enlarged the estates of Baggesvogn and gathered the land around the main farm. She left it to her two unmarried daughters, (Anne and Birgitte Kruse) who continued their mother's work. In 1669 they gave land to a newly established Baggesvogn hospital. (closed in the 20th century).The sisters possibly tried to manage more than they could cope. After Anne Kruse's death Birgitte Kruse had,because of debt, to assign Baggesvogn to Frederik Vind in 1692.




Baggesvogns history from 1700s till 1900s is marked by frequent ownerships, often because of a bad economy.

In 1997 Baggesvogn was sold to Ole T. Krogsgaard who stille owned it in 2013.

Serritslev church, Vendsyssel, North Jutland

Serritslev church, 5 km north of Brønderslev/wikipedia

Serritslev church lies in the village Serritslev in North Jutland close to a Bronze age hill Klanghøj . and with a bell frame upon the grave hill. The church was built in the middle of the 1100 in granite ashlars in the Romanesque style. The plinth is in granite ashlars with a bevelled edge. The porch was added on the north side in the 1500s in red monk bricks, it is whitewashed and has a tiled roof, while   nave and the choir have a leaden roof. Upon the northern wall are two original windows, and another upon the south wall of the choir. On the south side is a bricked up men's door. Both in the nave and in the choir on the south side are small square holes in the wall, and the same in the north side of the choir -  they are leper-windows from where the sick could get the sacrament.

In 1529 the church had to send their church bell to the king's canon foundry in Copenhagen, another bell from ab. 1550 is kept at Vendsyssels historiske Museum in Hjørring. The present bell is from the Middle Ages and was cast at A/S Jysk Jernstøberi in Brønderslev.

interior/ wikipedia

The interior was restored in the late 1950s. The granite font origins probably from the church building. The baptismal dish in brass has the year 1714, but it is supposed to be 100 years older. The baptismal jar is from 1985. The crucifix upon the south wall is from the Middle Ages and was originally placed above the choir arch. The altar table is in granite ashlars and the triptychon altarpiece in oak is from 1959. The pulpit is from 1626 and the entrance to the pulpit is in the inside wall of the choir.

Bratskov manor and Brovst church , Vendsyssel, North Jutland

Bratskov, (wikipedia)

Bratskov is a manor in Brovst, Jammerbugt kommune (historical: Øster Han herred, Hjørring amt) In the building is today a historical museum with fx a big collection of stone tools from Stone Age from a finding place in Brovst. In the main building is a culture center. Brovst kommune took over Bratskov in 1976 and let the main building be renovated, it was inaugurated as a culture center with public access in August 1979. In the pretty restored rooms in the main building are alternate exhibitions  (and lectures and association arrangements).The east part of the gate-wing is a tourist office and the timbered wing has charming reconstructions of a smitty, a shoemaker workshop and a school room from year 1900. Here are also alternate art exhibitions. The castle park has public access.


Near Bratskov lies a lake where was once a castle called "Bratlingsborg", which is said to have sunk down into the water, but there are still rests of bricks and bridges. What is told today about this castle ( heard about in the giant folk songs) is now considered a fable. In the not so deep lake where people fish perch, pike and bream, lies a castle in the deep - and after this the new castle Bratskov was built...

It is not known how much truth this fable contains, but Bratskov can be traced back to the 1200s. It was owned by several grand Danish aristocratic families through the ages.The owner of Bratskov owned six churches (among those Brovst church). Neighbouring manors were the old Aggersborggaard, Aagaard and Frejstrupgaard, all burnt down by rebellious peasants in 1441.


The oldest part of the present Bratskov is from 1550, but according to sources there was an earlier building in the area. Bratskov is mentioned for the first time in 1307 in written sources. The present Bratskov was built by the noble family Rotfeld who owned the estate from the middle of the 1300s. The building master Jens Nielsen Rotfeld died in 1558 as the last male of the family.  The first member of the noble family Rotfeld was Ugod Torstensen, a son of the legendary Torsten Vild. The family with other colourful names like Ingvor Udsen and Niels Kalv wrote itself of Bratskov up through the 1400s, but in the 1550, when they finally built the stone house the male line was extinct.


Several noble families from Funen owned Bratskov since, until colonel Frantz Rantzau in 1655 bought the manor. The descendants of Rantzau owned Bratskov for over 100 years until 1785. In the end of the 1700s large areas by the Limfjord were drained and dried, and the extra land of the manor was now good farm land. The land was gradually parcelled out in the first half of the 20th century and the farm was closed in 1948. In 1953 Bratskov was bought by barrister Erik Brüel, who restored the dilapidated main building. Brovst kommune took over the manor in 1976 and the above mentioned culture center opened in 1979.

The western wing is the main building, built in monkstone in two floors. The square stair-tower was added in 1660. In the stair-tower leads a staircase down to the original 1100s cellar with exposed monk-brick walls and barrel vault. In the old food cellar are kept two salt jars which were once used for storing the meat. The low, timbered sidewings were built in the middle of the 1700s. The whole plan was originally four-winged, but the east wing was demolished during the 1800s. There is still a moat to the east, north and west with a small bridge to the north. In earlier times the whole manor was surrounded by moats as a protection against peasant warriors.



Brovst church

Brovst church (wikipedia)

In a restoration in 1951-52 were found traces in the church floor which indicated that here was a smaller stone church in the 1000s at the same palace as the present church.

The present church is built in the 1200s in ashlars, granite boulders and bricks. There are original windows in the nave, both to the north and south. They are kept as niches, visible inside the church.
There is a trace of the original apse. Here was originally a window. In the 1300s or a little later the nave was extended  to the east, and the choir was made smaller. The Romanesque choir arch was demolished, and parts from this are seen outside in the south wall of the nave. Upon the north wall opposite the pulpit are the niches of two bricked up windows. The first tower was probably built in the middle of the 1300s. The porch is from the Middle Ages, and the north door is still in use via the porch.

The Romanesque altar table is no more. The present bricked altar table is from the restoration in 1951. The antemensale with gold stripes is from 1988. In 1729 Frantz Rantzau gave the church a good restore and equipped it with altarpiece, pulpit and a gallery. In the top of the altarpiece is a triangle with God's name written in Hebraic letters, under this the coat of arms of Frantz RantzaU and wife Margrethe Rodsteen. The altar painting is from 1898 by A Dorph. The altar candelabres are from the 1700s. The baptismal font is the only left Romanesque inventory. The baptismal dish is probably from ab. 1600. The pulpit is like the altarpiece and the gallery from 1729. The pulpit was made by carver Peder Roussel,  Aalborg. He also carved the pulpit in Nørre Tranders church.

 After the reformation the church was owned by Bratskov manor. In 1576 Erik Lykke of Bratskov had the king's permission to use the stones from a demolished church in Kettrup (Ingstrup) for a repair of Brovst church. It is not known if the materials were brought to Brovst.

In a royal letter from 1603 the tower is mentioned as "being blown down in the latest storm". The present tower was probably built in the middle of the 1600s.

In 1876 some parishioners bought two church bells. The small is a medieval bell, recast in 1929 by the Smiths. The big bell is cast by John Taylor and co. 



photo: wikipedia

Ejsing church / Ejsing kirke , Northwest Jutland

17 km northeast of Struer
before 1970: Ginding herred Ringkøbing amt 
Today: Holstebro Kommune, Region Midtjylland

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Ejsing kirke, Wikipedia

Ejsing church is one of Denmarks largest village churches - situated in a pretty landscape between Venø bugt and Hjerl Hede.

The church was built in 1125-1175 but is dominated by late Gothic additions in the 1400s.

The Romanesque kernel is choir and nave in small granite ashlars. A sacristy was added to the choir in the late Gothic period and after this a side nave of four bays. The church stands with five coherent glare gables. The complete addition to the Romanesque church is finished with a porch at the southside and a tall slim tower to the west. The whole church  has a lead roof.

In the southern wall of the nave is inserted an ashlar with six squares, each surrounded by a circle, possibly a corbel. In the same wall is a relief ashlar with a cross in a circle and an inserted  Romanesque gravestone with cross and majuskel-inscription over "Asser son of Tyge Crabbe and fru Ide". At the window of the nave east of the porch is an overwashed relief-ashlar  with a worn human head and an ashlar with a circular groove, which possibly is a stone mason mark.

Ejsing church has some interesting frescoes from the 1500s in the choir vault and the vaults of the southern chapel, and a large coat of arms is painted on the wall of the nave for Mogens Rosenkrantz and wife Sophie Bille of Landting .

Ejsing kirke, Google Earth

The church has a rich inventory. The earliest is the Romanesque baptismal font with many interesting high reliefs and a Latin inscription. A medieval wooden figure from a side alter shows the patron Saint Dionysius. From the same period in the middle of the 1400s origins a choir arch crucifix, where the sidefigures are from the 1700s.

The Baroque inventory is striking. The pulpit with a sounding board is from 1656. It has rich carvings with winding pillars, oval fields and Christ and the Evangelists in reliefs.

The heir of  the manor Landting, Marianne Bernsdorph and her first husband Niels Lillelund gave the church two pompous Rococo-pieces, the altarpiece dated 1764 and the manor-gallery at the southside of the nave from 1765, besides a chandelier from 1766 in the sidenave.

Furthermore is a priest's chair and a parish clerk chair with the image of a singing clerk.

Axel N. Rosenkrantz and Birgitte Knob

The grave memorials are gathered in the western section of the side-nave and in the south chapel. The finest grave stone is in the south chapel, a wellkept repainted figure-stone for Axel Rosenkrantz and wife Berethe Knobsdatter, who both died at Landting in 1551.

The magnificent manor Landting was broken down in 1855 and the land was being outparcelled .
Se description of Landting below.

The church yard is very well kept with many black granite stones from the local stone mason. In Ejsing church yard is buried the last tater in Denmark Stærke Hans (Strong Hans).

 

 

 

The medieval manor Landting

The medieval Landting

The manor Landting was in the Middle Ages placed in a large wet area , a water stream run through it. From the manor was over 100 meter to firm ground to the north. It is still a very moist castle site, which is situated about 1000 meter from Limfjorden. It is not known exactly when the manor Landting was built or by whom, but it happened probably in the 1300s, where the estate belonged to the family Eberstein.

An important part of the earthworks of Landting are kept. Today the tall square castle bank measures 40x 50 m and is surrounded by a deep moat. Outside this is another bank where the long sides are up till 100 meter long. The castle bank was probably the main bank of the castle with a large tower. A dam lead from the castle site to the place where (the ladegård) farm of the manor was situated. Here lies today a farm called Landting.

(The castle bank might be overploughed).

The name Landting, Langetind og Longæting means high tower, which suggest that the manor had a tower from the beginning.


During the unrest years in the beginning of the 1300s Landting belonged to Albert Albertsen Eberstein. He or one of his descendants had taken part of the building of the castle. The owner in 1360 was Henrik Albertsen (Eberstein). His daughter Karen was married to Aage Hedisen Puder, she lived as a widow at Landting in 1422, their daughter was married to Jens Eriksen Banner who died in 1445, whereafter his daughter Mette and her husband ridder Niels Eriksen Gyldenstjerne took over Landting. Niels Eriksen Gyldenstjerne was one of the magnates of the country, and he was in 1456 appointed the king's court master. After his death in 1484 his daughter Inger took over Landting. She was a widow after Niels Timmesen Rosenkrantz with whom she had the son Axel who is mentioned as the owner of Landting in 1505.

Landting painted 1840 by Rasmus Kruse.

In the late Middle Ages was at the nortside of the central castle said to be built a heavy bricked tower of three storeys, maybe a replacement for an earlier tower. It was said that the then owner of Landting Axel Nielsen  Rosenkrantz during Grevens Fejde in 1534 defended his manor against Skipper Clements ship which lay out in Venø bugt shooting at the castle -  which was not damaged much. The rebellious peasants had no success and the rebellion was fought down. After the victory Axel Rosenkrantz accussed the peasants in Hardsyssel for their rebellion -and they were convicted of their rights to own their farms.

In the middle of the 1500s a large stone house was built along the westside of the castle bank in the characteristic architecture of the Renaissance. The house was in three storeys, red washed and with stepped gables. The building master was probably Axel Nielsen Rosenkrantz who lived there with his family. Along the other sides of the bank were built large timbered houses.

The break down of the pretty manor began in the beginning of 1805. The cattle-trading family Windfeldt took over the estate in 1815, and in the middle of the 1800s the rest of the magnificent building were completely gone.

The name Landting was used for the manor farm (ladegården)  as the center in a large agriculture and in 1855 the owner Jørgen Windfeldt let build the present main building.

Source: Danmarks kirker , Niels Peter Stilling. Wikipedia DK.
photo: Wikipedia/Google Earth 

Fovlum/Foulum church, Himmerland

Fovlum church, wikipedia

Fovlum/Foulum Kirke
Vesthimmerlands Kommune, Region Nordjylland 
Before 1970: Gislum Herred, Aalborg Amt. 

Fovlum church in Himmerland lies in the village Fovlum 7 km southwest of Farsø. The church  is one of the best preserved Romanesque granite churches in Denmark. The apse, choir and nave  are built in granite ashlars in ab. 1125-1175 -  and a porch was added in 1879 ( in Romanesque style in red bricks upon a granite plinth). The two church portals are preserved, both with frame stones formed like half pillars with richly profiled corbels and buestik with rundstave (curved and round sticks) . Above the bricked south door is a relief of an animal flanked by two spear-armed warriors. In the tympanum below is a traceable, weathered relief of a bird -  maybe the Holy dove. The male entrance is bricked with ashlars, and among those is a chessboard like a similar ashlar in Skarp Salling church's triumph wall.

photo: Google Earth

The Romanesque windows are kept in the apse and on the north side of the church. In the porch are five gravtræer (grave-trees) = grave frames in oak, with inscriptions from the 1600s. They were brought to light from the church floor in connection to a restore in the 1870s. Both the pulpit from the ab. 1600s and the altarpiece from 1633 are equipped with newer paintings. Only the painting in the top piece of the altarpiece is original.

Upon the church yard is a bell frame -  and until 1872 was a long dolmen. The church was reinaugurated in 2012 after a restore with a new altarpiece painted by Anita Houvenaeghel (born 1945) -  and the church has got a new colorized kneeler, pulpit, pews and loft in order to create a full colorness. 

Fovlum, chessboard, wikipedia

Source from a website of Fovlum church.
The Danish writer Martin A. Hansen travelled in his time round Denmark and visited the Danish churches. He called the church in Fovlum "the noblest building in the country". Few Danish churches have been kept as original as Fovlum church. The long dolmen in the churchyard is now traceable as a long east-west rise above the earth.

The stone master in charge of the church building more than 800 years ago might also have built Skarp Salling church and the original cathedral in Viborg.

photo: Google Earth

The north wall of Fovlum church is untouched while the south wall is was worn out from changing temperatures and was rebricked about 100 years ago and equipped with larger windows. The porch was built outside the original woman entrance. The big planks on the wall are gravestones in wood frpm the 1600s which were placed as a lid upon the graves inside the church.

The big crucifix is new and created by the artist Erik Heide from Mors (island in Limfjorden) , who also made some gravestones in the church yard , a water stone by Ullits school and a monolite of flying birds which form small crosses at a new church yard in the village Farsø.

The church walls were red in the Middle Ages. They are now white washed and in a few places the red colour breaks through the white.

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