Harridslevgaard/Harritslevgaard Slot, Skovby Sogn, Nordfyns Kommune

Harridslevgaard slot/ photo gb

Harridslevgaard slot is mentioned the first time in 1231, where it belonged to the king." Haræslef" is mentioned in King Valdemars jordebog of 1232 as one of the king's castles. It had then a value of 144 mark gold.

In the early Middle Ages "Haræslef " was according to the legend a sørøverborg (pirate's castle) . At that time the sea went right up to the castle with a free view across the sea and the pirates hang out lamps to fool the ships to come close to the coast, where they could enter the ships and rob everything they wished for. But there were so many complaints about the pirates at Harritslevgaard that the king took action and had them all executed.

 In 1542 Jørgen Svave got a livbrev of the manor (royal guarantee for ownership for life) and he succeeded in buying it as a free estate in 1560, where the document says that it was sold to the king's vasal Jørgen Svave by Frederic 2.

Harritslevgaard slot/wikipedia

Rigsråd Breide Rantzau (1556-1618) bought the old royal administration-center Harridslevgaard in 1589 from Jørgen Svave. The deal went possibly on under shady shapes. The Svave family led process about the sale still ten years after the sale. Breide however did not care. The spirited aristocrat was one of the young Chr. 4's loyal followers and also a good  svirebroder ("feasting brother"). It was always a great feast when Breide accompanied the young king on his travels to Norway and England around year 1600. Breide Rantzau belonged to the wealthy and powerful Rantzau-family who came to Denmark in connection to Grevens fejde in 1533-36, where Breide Rantzau's grandfather Johan Rantzau was Chr. 3's army chief.  The family was - especially at Funen -  rewarded for its loyalty to the king with several manors like Rantzausholm (Brahetrolleborg), Hellerup, Hindemae and Harridslevgaard. Breide Rantzau broke down the old castle and built a new Renaissance building which was finished in 1606,in three storeys and with a large octagonal stair tower by the castle yard.

medieval feast/wikipedia

Breide's daughter-in-law, the beautiful fru Anne Lykke received her royal lover, Chr. 4's eldest son (the chosen Prince) on Harridslevgaard, while she was the owner in 1623-31. Anne Lykke lived in 1623 at Harritslevgaard after her husband Kaj Rantzau's early death and the rich widow cast her pretty eyes on the Crown Prince, the young Christian, while his father Chr. 4 without luck took part in the 30-years' war in North Germany. 

 At his homecoming after the painful defeat at Lutter am Barenberg Chr. 4 let in 1626 Anne Lykke arrest and put in prison at Kronborg. The acussation was that she by "druk og letfærdighed" (drinking and frivolity) had disturbed the Crown Prince in his leadership of the government in the absence of Chr. 4. After in vain having tried to start a case against Anne Lykke the king had in 1628 to set her free, if she would promise to stay at her manor. On her release in 1628 she settled at the manor Hellerup at east Funen, while her other estates were left to members of the Ulfeldt and Rantzau family. She married in 1629 one of Jacob Ulfeldt's many sons,  the learned Knud Ulfeldt. Anne Lykke died in 1641. After her came several owners to Harridslev, until the castle in 1829 was sold to greve Bernstorff-Gyldensteen. The big adjoining land still belongs to Gyldensteen, while the main building was sold to other side.

The owner Christiane Hoppe Hagedorn expands in ab. 1750 the adjoining land, rebuilds the main building (1753) and establishes a stutteri. She was a diligent lady of the castle and she now haunts the castle as the white lady. Harridslevgaard came after the introduction of the absolutism  in 1660 soon in bourgeois hands and changed owners up till 1829 where grev Bernstorff at Gyldensteen bought the castle, and it was combined with the neighbouring estate Gyldensteen northeast of Bogense. 1922 At the county's transition to a free estate was sold 800 tønder land from Harritslevgaard's earlier adjoining land for the founding of 66 smallholdings. 1963 Director/Antique dealer Frank Nicolaisen buys Harridslevgaard with park, but without farming from grev Carl Johan Bernstorff of Gyldensteen. While Frank Nicolaisen was the owner he started from 1963 a thorough restoration.

The family Schimko bought Harridslevgaard in 1985 and continued the restoration. In 1995 they opened the castle to the public.

Harridslevgaard slot/ gb

Only a little is left from the original manor except the sandstone fireplaces and the room divisions. In the reconstructed manor environment you can walk from the  Pigekammer (servantmaid's chamber) in the basement and the large kitchen and via beautiful rooms and living rooms up to the magnificent riddersal (Knights Hall), which fills out the whole upper storey of the east wing. The present pretty and right inventory are new antiquities, bought with a sense of a castle's historic inventory.

The knights hall of 400 kvm  is the largest privately owne in Denmark and is very imposing. From the Knights Hall is access to two hemmeligheder ( medieval toilets in the wall).  In the north wing is "the blue room" with marbled, handcarved panels in an exceptionel blue room -  and the modern hemmelighed is also in blue. The Winter Hall in the east wing with its original richly ornamented sandstone fireplace is remarkable. In the north wing is also "the red living room" with a well preserved vaulted ceiling and pretty red wallpapers. In the basement are among others two rooms called "jagtstuen" (hunting room) and "badstuen" (bath room). Here was originally laundry and bakery . It is now furnished into an  exclusive bathroom and hall. In the medieval cellar is a vaulted kitchen which still 400 years later is serving its original purpose. From the kitchen is a downturn to a socalled dungeon, which probably was the old cold storage and wine cellar. At the kitchen wall are the traces of a spiral staircase, which connected the kitchen to "the red room" above.

Mysteries at Harridslevgaard.
Harridslevgaard has - together with other mysterious happenings on Funen - made the background of a book "Guide til det okkulte Danmark" by the author Bo B. Hamilton-Wittendorff. Peculiar occassions sometimes happens.A visiting woman was scared to death by a little girl who had been chasing her, until she suddenly disappeared out in the blue. The woman described the little blonde girl, dressed in something which looked like an oldfashioned nightgown.Rumbling from a wagon is heard in the castle yard and the sound of horse hooves, attributed to a former bailiff who rides a horse with luminous red eyes. The white lady is walking around in the castle guarding her goods and gold. She is said to be fru Christiane Hoppe who lived from 1687 till 1769. She was the lady of the castle and the owner of a stutteri.

Mill House, Harridslevgaard slot/gb

The present owners , Inge Lise and Hermann Schimko, took over the castle in 1985 and made it open to the public. Harridslevgaard was rather dilapidated at that time, but after 15 years of restoration the castle looks like Breide Rantzau's pretty Renaissance castle. The buildings are now listed and each repair has to be done by appointment with the National Museum. Some details came up during the restoration -  in the red living room was a hatch in the bottom of a cupboard, under this a spiral staircase leading down to the dungeon and a secret passage, which was an escape way for the lord and lady in the Middle Ages.  The secret passage went 500 meters out into the field to Loddenhøj or Palnatokehøj where Palnatoke supposedly was buried. It was said that Palnatoke owned "Haræslef" in the first half of the 900s.

Palnatoke was a legendary hero from Funen who is mentioned in Saxo Grammaticus and in the Icelandic Jomsvikingernes saga. According to the last mentioned Palnatoke was the man who founded Jomsborg and created the laws, and also according to Jomsvikingernes saga he was a son of Palne Tokesen and his wife Ingeborg, a daughter of Otto Jarl. Palnatoke is possibly a historical person who was added a series of vandresagn.(walking legends)
Palnatoke was probably a nickname for Toke Pallesen (also: Toke Palnesen), another possibility is den polske Toke (the Polish Toke) or den polske tolk (the Polish interpreter). The name is not a usual Nordic name. 

(see my blog: Medieval Danish and European families for Toke Palnesen , Palne Tokesen and  Toke Trylle Palnesen, who was the father of Skjalm Hvide.)

Park, Harridslevgaard slot/gb

The family Schimko opened ten years ago the castle to the public by an arrangement and the interest from the public was overwhelming. Since then there have been permanent opening hours and arrangements like firm parties,conferences and weddings. People can rent historic lackeys uniforms for the servants and they can dance in Denmarks largest privately owned Knights Hall.

The old mill house lies at the driveway to Harridslevgaard. The manor is surrounded by a small park with pretty peacocks.

Each year Harridslevgaard has a Christmas market. The castle is by appointment open all year for tours of large groups. And it is possible to get married at the castle. The various rooms can be rented for conferences, meetings, weddings and dinner parties. 

Sources:
Danmarks slotte og herregårde , Niels Peter Stilling, Politiken, 1997, 
Slotte og herregårde i Danmark, Jytte Ortmann, 2000
www.harridslevgaard.dk 
Harritslevgaard, wikipedia


photo: grethe bachmann

photo mm: wikipedia

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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Jungshoved church/ Jungshoved kirke, Bårse herred, Præstø amt.

Jungshoved church, ab. 8 km southeast of Præstø( photo gb

Jungshoved church The church at Jungshoved lies close to the shore of Jungshoved cove, just outside the castle bank of (not (demolished) Jungshoved castle. The church has a late Romanesque choir and nave from ab. 1225-50 in small limestone ashlars and monk bricks with a tall profiled plinth . In the choir is one and in the nave two bricked-in windows, visible from the loft, in the choir is a bricked-in priest's door, the round-arched door of the nave sits in a protruded portal. In the early Gothic period the nave got a western extension in limestone ashlars with a few belts of monk bricks.Its gable was rebuilt ab 1450 in monk bricks. In the late Gothic period the south side of the choir and the eastern corner of the nave had supporting columns; the choir arch was made pointed, and the choir and nave were overvaulted. North of the choir was built a vaulted sacristy in monk bricks, and north of the nave -because of the close coastline - was raised the bottom section of a tower with a western staircase-house in monk bricks, with a few limestone-ashlar belts; in front of the south door was built a porch. In the beginning of the 1600s the upper storeys of the tower were built in small stones with stepped glare gables. In 1882 the whole church got round-arched windows.

photo 2013: gb

Upon the upper walls of the nave are rests of Gothic frescoes, figures and wining leaves, older than the vaults.

Interior Altarpiece ab. 1590 by "Bårse herred's jointer", it is very re-made with an inserted plaster relif of Thorvaldsen's Christ in Emmaus. Altar candelabres 1649 with the coat of arms of the vasal Ove Gedde (Gjedde) and wife Dorte Urne. Late Gothic procession-crucifix ab. 1510-20. A square font in burnt clay with reliefs by Thorvaldsen, rest of a medieval Gotland limestone font in the porch, a Netherland baptismal dish ab. 1625. High Renaissance pulpit ab. 1605-10, from the Schrøder workshop in Næstved, with Evangelist-statuettes. Chandelier ab. 1600. Bells: 1616 by Hartvig Quellichmeyer and 1897 by Løw og søn. The tower room was furnished in the 1780s as a burial chapel for the Brockenhuus family, above the door a stone tablet with the coat of arms of Brockenhuus and Holstein. In the chapel two similar sarchophagus in Norwegian marble, made in 1787-88 by Johs Wiedewelt. Here rest the district commander Hendrick Adam Brockenhuus (+ 1803) and wife Elisabeth, née Holstein Ledreborg (+ 1786).

Jungshoved, small marina downside church and bank 2013: gb

Jungshoved manor. In Valdemar Jordebog is mentioned "junxhoulæth". From chiefs and vasals are known - the earliest especially from the Hanse-recesses - ridder Otto v Budelsbak (1364-71), Henning v d.Lancken (1376), ridder Jens Rud the Elder, mEntioned 1390, gave back the vasalry in 1393, Mogens Gøye (ab. 1440), ridder Korfitz Rønnow (1474-86), Ebbe Mogensen Galt (1494- 1526), his son Anders Ebbesen Galt, with whose widow the vasalry came to her 2. husband Børge Trolle of Lillø. He was in 1571 replaced as vasal by rigshofmester Peder Oxe until (1574), among the following vasals were rigshofmester Christoffer Valkendorf (1583-87 and again 1597-1601), Mourids Podebusk, who was infamous for his brutal behavior of the peasants (1589-94) and admiral Ove Gedde (Gjedde).

Jungshoved church, 2013: gb

Chr IV had a stutteri at Jungshoved, which in 1628 was said to be very delapidated - and it suffered much damage during the Swedish wars. The manor was plundered, the woodwork burnt down and the libray-books of Jørgen Reedtz were  stolen. The local legends origin from this period, about the peasant Svend Poulsen's (= Svend Gønge)  exploits in and around Jungshoved, which formed the starting point of Carit Etlars novel "Gøngehøvdingen". In 1665 Jungshoved was deeded to greve Christoffer Parsberg, who in 1671 exchanged it for Torbenfeld. to prince Jørgen (+ 1708), Chr. V.'s brother, who had got Vordingborg district for life (form of vasalry). After the prince in 1683 had married the English princess Anne ( died in 1714 as queen of England), and had settled in England, he let his property in Denmark manage by Chr. Siegfried Plessen, in 1714 Jungshoved was taken over by the Danish Crown and was incorporated in the rytterdistrikt equestrian district of Vordingborg. The estate was in good condition, but the castle did not exist anymore. In 1761 Fr.V. sold Jungshoved and Oremandsgård to Henrik Adam Brockenhuus, who bought Nysø in 1763, with which estate Jungshoved later was united.

Jungshoved castle bank, photo:gb

Jungshoved Voldsted (Castle Bank)   In the southwestern part of the parish, close to the beach and by the inlet to a small cove between and dividing  Jungshoved parish and Allerselv parish, about 60 m south of the church, lies Jungshoved Voldsted ("Slotsbakken"), an irregular and steep, about 47 m broad and about 5 m high bank, which uneven surface covers foundations of the castle. Nothin is known about the earliest castle buildings - but once were some timbered buildings 1) "The new House" with the king's rooms 2) " The old House" with the ladies room, two bay windows and a staircase-tower with spire etc. and 3) likewise an old house with stegers=kitchen,  bryggers = scullery and some chambers, and beside and free on the 4th side was a one storey house, where the managerhad a room. The castle was probably in ruins from ab. 1660. The last building seems to be broken down in 1714, and all was left was the farm building and a manager's house. In 1717 the rest was broken down and the materials were used for stables and baraks in Vordingborg. On the actions of the National Museum was in 1894 cut a crossroad through the thicket on the almost overgrown castle bank. The foot of the bank is surrounded by an almost overgrown moat and around this is a lower bank, which south and east side again is covered by a moat, which leads out to the beach. Around the church were found building remains which were said to be from an earlier village, but they probably origin from the farm building of the castle. The castle is very old, but nothing is known about its earlier history.

Roneklint, lighthouse and entrenchment, 2013: gb

North of Roneklint lies a entrenchment by the beach "Gamle Batteri".

Jungshoved parish seems to have been an island in ancient times between Præstø fjord and the cove on the southwestern border where lie bogs and water streams - and the inhabitants call the place "Øen" ( the island) The parish, of which a part was called Smidstrup parish in the 1400s, was an independent parish with own priest, but in 1718, when the vicarage burnt down, it became an annex of the town Præstø, until it again became an independent parish in 1762.


Listed prehistorics: In Bønsvighoved skov is a long dolmen and 2 passage graves, of which one "Svend Gønges Hule" is wellkept. At Stavreby the hill Mislehøj.

Demolished or destroyed: a passage grave and 2 other stone graves, all at Bønsvig and 26 hills, of which 18 were in an oblong group east of Ambæk.

Upon low water outside Jungshoved castle bank is a settlement from Ertebøllekulturen.

Source: Trap Danmark, Præstø amt, 1955   
Text (translated) and photo Jungshoved 2013: grethe bachmann 

Stouby church/ Stouby kirke and Rosenvold, Bjerre herred, Vejle amt.

Stouby church, ab. 15 km east of Vejle, photo: gb

Stouby kirke
The large whitewashed church in Stouby is in its present look a Gothic longhouse building with a tower to the west and a porch to the south. From the original Romanesque travertine church is left only the northside of the nave with a late Romanesque extension to the west. A single round arch window is seen as an outside niche, the extension, which wallwork is thicker than the original wall, has in the top a frieze of narrow *lisens. In the Gothic period, probably ab. 1400-1450, the building was reshaped into a longhouse with a triangular choir finish, which in the east wall has a *firpasblænding. The high, light room has inside four cross vaults with profiled ribs and very narrow *gjordbuer and a half star vault in the choir section. The tower to the west in monk bricks is a little newer than this rebuild, and it lost its vaults at a later date - there is now a beamed ceiling in the tower room, which opens toward the nave in a new tower arch. Its upper sections are cut down till a little above the height of the nave, probably in 1817 (iron numbers  and initials for F.Rantzau). The tower stairway  is in the southwest corner of the nave. The building was restored 1877 and the porch origins from this time.

* lisens = protruding pilastres/bands
* firpasblænding = a glare similar to a fourclover
* gjordbue = a reinforcement curve of a vault


Interior: In the choir are 4 pretty mosaic windows from 1952 by Kresten Iversen. The altarpiece is a skilled carving from 1731 , it was given by Dean Jørgen Knudsen Beesche and made by Jens Jensen or Jørgen Slache. An altarpainting, copy  after Carl Bloch, hangs in the porch (1964). Chalice 1786, given by Carl Adolph Rantzau and Christiane Ernestine Frederiche Vedel. A Romanesque granite font with four horisontal angels, one is Sct Michael, fighting a monster. A pulpit in late Renaissance 1640 with old decorations. A bell from 1708, Friderich Holtzmann.

Rosenvold slot, photo: gb

Rosenvold is mentioned the first time in 1575 when Karen Gyldenstierne, widow after Holger Ottesen Rosenkrantz of Boller and their heirs at R. had permission to seek to Stouby church, while the ealier owners of R. had seeked to Barrit church.  Their son Frederik Rosenkrantz is written of the farm in 1599, but he was exiled the same year because of his relation to Rigborg Brockenhuus and died in 1602. His brother Otte Christoffer Rosenkrantz took over R., but at his death in 1621 R. and Boller had, because of debt, to be sold to Ellen Marsvin, who inn 1630 had to give the farms to her daughter Kirstine Munk. She died in 1658 and her daughter Elisabeth Augusta sold R. in 1660 to stiftamtmand, gehejmeråd Henrik Rantzau (+ childless in 1674). The farm was inherited by his brother's son  kammerherre Henrik Rantzau (+ 1687), his brother grev Otto Rantzau (+ 1719) the son generalmajor grev  Frederik Rantzau (+ unmarried 1726), his brother viceroy in Norway, grev Christian Rantzau (+ 1771), who in 1756 established "Det grevelige Rantzauske Forlods af R".   

Later owners: The family Rantzau up till present.


Rosenvold, the main building is listed in class A.

Some extra details in history: 
The castle ruin is still seen in the forest northeast of Rosenvold. Staksevold was probably withdrawn and broken down by queen Margrethe I in her work of gathering Denmark and the Nordic countries in the second half of the 1300s.

In front of the coast banks on the low meadows towards Vejle fjord and a few hundred meters from the sea Karen Gyldenstierne built her dower house Rosenvold in 1585. Before this her husband Holger Rosenkrantz had established Rosenvold as a main farm ab. 1570. He had bought the areas of the earlier Staksevold, a "røverborg" (robbers' castle), which was a stone tower with a bank and moat and outside with wooden buildings and a stable.
At the death of Karen Gyldenstierne her two sons took over Rosenvold, first Frederik Rosenkrantz, who run into bad luck because of his relation to the queen's Lady in Waiting Rigborg Brockenhuus from Egeskov. As a punishment she was immured at Egeskpov, while Frederik contracted the wrath of the king and was exiled. His brother Christoffer took over the estate, but he got some economic problems and had in 1621 to sell Rosenvold to Ellen Marsvin of Holckenhavn , wjo was the big collector of estate at that time and the mother-in-law of Christian IV. In 1630 Ellen Marsvin was at the kings command ordered to give Rosenvold to her daughter Kirsten Munk, since she was banished from the court after having refused the king access to her chamber. Kirsten Munk's heirs had to sell Rosenvold in 1660 to Henrik Rantzau of Schönweide in Holstein and stiftamtmand in Århus. The Rantzau family is still the owners of Rosenvold and has been for almost 350 years. (source.: Rosenvold.dk/)  

Rosenvold Marina, photo:gb

Gravengård etc was by hr. Oluf Stigsen (Krognos) pawned in 1497 to bishop Niels Clausen in Århus, later it belonged to the son hr. Mourids Olufsen (Krognos)(+ 1550), with whose daugther it came to Holger Rosenkrantz of Boller in 1662. G was from Boller laid out to Gabriel Marselis at Havreballegård.

The medieval castle bank Gravengård was situated close north of Lille Gravengård about 500 m northwest of Stouby kirke.  A farm was earlier  situated at the castle bank. After a fire in 1926 the farm was outparcelled and the site was levelled. The castle bank lay in a pond which water surrounded it on three sides, upon the fourth side was probably a moat. In the 19th century were probably destroyed some banks. Upon the castle bank were buildings in monk bricks.

Rohden was in 1662 two farms belonging under Rosenvold. In 1758 grev Christian Friis (of Vadskærgård) of Frijsenborg deeded both farms to manager Hans Erik Saabye, later of Brantbjerg, and in 1771-72 justitsråd Jørgen Hvass de Lindenplam of Tirsbæk deeded the two farms to Christen Mikkelsen Kjær, who in 1789 only owned one farm, Neder Rohden. This farm his son Jens Kaj Kjær willed shortly before his death in 1826 to his daughter Christiane Kjær, in 1827 m. to Jørgen Hansen, later of Borchsminde.
Later owners: Jacob Lund Eggertsen, Jens Simonsen Buch, Nicolai Jensen Jelling, Johannes Brorson, Flemming Lerche, Folmer Lüttichau.

Niels Jensen of Ullerup is mentioned 1340-46.  

Jysk Nervesanatorium at Vejle fjord, built 1898-99. = Vejlefjord Sanatorium.

According to Pont Atlas Gammelby was originally called Stouby, but since a part of the town burnt down and was rebuilt about 1 km from there, the new town was called Stouby, while the rest was called Gammelby. Since the vicarage lies here, the parish was for a period called Gammelby parish.

forest at Fakkegrav, photo: gb

At the beach were some farms Falsterbo (1664 Falsterboe). Northeast of Hugholm were some houses called Himmerig. From dissapeared farms are Smedegård (1497 Smedegard) in Hyrup and Bjerregård (1683 Bierregaard, Berrgord). Furthermore the houses Knoseborg or Hulvejen (1664 Huolweyen or Knoseborrig), Sanderbækhus (1683 Sanderbech Hues) and Strandhuset (1688 Strandhuuset), de two last mentioned were fisherman's houses. Fakkegrav was earlier named Favrdal (1683 Fougerdal) and later Pakhuset. 




Listed prehistorics: At Rosenvold is Tehøj in which top are two cover stones, probably for a passage grave, and a somewhat disturbed dolmen chamber. Furthermore a large hill south of the church and two hills in Ullerup skov.
Demolished or destroyed: not less than 19 stone graves, of which two were long dolmens, one with 4 chambers; a dolmen chamber and two passage graves. In Pont. Atalse is mentioned at the vicarage a stone -surrounded hill with several chambers,which the parish priest let abolish.

From Rohden is known a small heap of shells from early Roman period.

Names from the Middle Ages and 1600s: Stouby (1399 Stoby, 1498 Stowby); Gammelby (1498 Gamelbi); Hyrup (1477 Hyrop, Hyrøp); Hostrup (1300s Horstorpmark, 1497 Hostrup); Belle (1459 Bælle); Fakkegrav (1664 Fastjgrau); Stoubyskov (1664 Stoubye Schouff); Hjerrild (1610 Herildtt); Hugholm (1683 Hugholm); Grund (1477 Grwnnæ); Rosenvold (1575 Rosenvold); Rohden (1474 Rode, 1475 Rodhe); Grundgård (1495 Grundegaardtt, Grunegaardt); Rønsholtskrog (1683 Rønsholt Sovhues); Gravengård (1462 Grawengart); Bobæk (1664 Boebech); Over Ullerup (1340 Vgelthorp, 1474 Wllerøp), Stoubylund (1511 Stobylundt); Årup Mølle (1458 Arrvp Mølle, Arwp Mølle) .     



Source: Trap Danmark, Vejle amt, 1964.

photo 2011: grethe bachmann

Fruering church/Fruering kirke, Hjelmslev herred, Skanderborg amt.

The large whitewashed church, which lies upon a hill in the southern outskirts of the village Fruering, was in the Middle Ages consecrated to Vor Frue. The building has a Romanesque nave, a late Romanesque? choir and a late Gothic western tower and a porch to the south. The nave is built in travertine and raw granite boulder. From original details are inside to the south two small windows. There is no trace of the north door, while the south door is outside and appears with a flatcurved uncover. A more narrow choir was connected to the nave earlier, this was replaced by the present choir, which has the same broadth as the nave; it is built in raw granite boulder and monk bricks above a high plinth in granite ashlars with a bevel edge and corner heads, which - like a secondary placed monolit-lintel from a Romanesque window - might origin from the earlier choir. Two round arched doors in respectively the north and south wall close to the triumph arch stand now as inside glares. Two doors in that place is an unusual sight in the choir of a common parish church, and their placement might raise the question if the church in some way was connected to the klosters in Ring or at Kalvø in Skanderborg sø (lake). In the northern wall of the nave is a narrow and lowplaced, now glared, Gothic window with cross-cover and a pointed arch in the lighting. In the choir was in the 1500s built two bays of cross-vaults and four bays in the nave with halfstone-ribs; at the same time the choir arch was probably extended and changed into a point-arched shape. The tower is built in monk bricks and boulder, upon the gables and under the roof of the long-sides are circular glares. The tower room is now a store room, it has a flatcurved outside-door to the north and a broad round arched arcade towards the nave, which is now glared by a narrow barrier wall.  The porch is built in monk bricks. From present time are the heavy supporting pillars along the walls of the church. The church has now neo-Romanesque windows.

 












A walled communion table, covered in a panel, which partly is from the 1700s. A stately Renaissance altarpiece from the beginning of the 1600s, probably carved by the joiner Oluf Olufsen, who lived in Hedemølle in the parish; in the big field a painting of the Holy Communion by Mogens Fogh in 1743, who also painted the crucifixion scene in the top piece; upon the back of the altarpiece hangs a free copy of Leonardo da Vinci's Holy Communion, made in 1862 by teacher Niels Jensen in Boes. Altar chalices from 1701 and 1934, the oldest remade by Martinus Trøner, who in 1701 also gave an oblate-box to the church. Altar candelabres from 1702, according to inscription given by parish priest Hans Lønborg and wife Inger Maria Trøner. The cup-shaped Romanesque granite font is decorated with arcades and animal reliefs. A baptismal dish from 1693, given by above mentioned Hans Lønborg as a memory of his first wife Maria Rosenmeyer, + 1689 in childbirth. A Renaissance pulpit from ab. 1600, according to inscription inserted by Morten Jørgensen in Rindelev; sounding board from 1648. New, closed pews. In the nave hangs a small crucifix, carved by Gunnar Hansen in 1948. Organ with neo-Baroque facade. A bell from 1698 with the crowned monogram and motto of Chr. V., carved by Peter Christoffer Geiger in Lübeck.

In the nave an epitaph for the priest Peder Nielsen Rønning, + 1682 and wife Maren Jensdatter. In the choir a sandstone epitaph for the priest Christian Ludvig Blok, + 1768 and wife Elisabeth Falk, + 179..;  in the porch a gravestone for the priest Knud Iensøn + 16.., and wife Mare Bundisdatter, + 16... A newer gravestone was moved to the garden of Rathlousdal manor.



Upon Kirkebakken ( church hill) ab. 300 m west northwest of Sophienlund was once Rindelev kirke, which is not mentioned in medieval sources. Acc. to Pont. Atlas Torrild church is extended with material from Rindelev church. At an excavation, which the National Museum did in 1922, the foundations revealed a small Romanesque church which had a choir and nave, which all or partly was built in travertine. In the terasse at Sophienlund is in the wall inserted a travertine ashlar from the site and a fragment of a Romanesque gravestone in granite with a cross relief.   -   In Kejlstrup was also a church (1683 Kedelstrup kierk), which last wall-rests were carried away in 1871 and 1877. In Kejlstrups lade (barn) is inserted a small Romanesque gravestone with a cross-stick in sunken relief and a smooth granite stone with a faint edge-profile,  found on the church site. Acc. to the legend Vitved church is built in stones from here. This cannot be true though.         

The family house Herschendsgave was established in 1788 by Peter Herschend, + 1796. A small main building was built in 1769 upon the place, where the desolate burnt Gjesing mill stood. A new main building northeast of this was built in 1868. Among the foundation stones are Romanesque picture ashlars. 
Owner in 1964: I Laursen.

Rindelevgård was in the 1600s under Skanderborg castle , from 1717 under Skanderborg rytterdistrikt.
Sold in 1767 to Dorothea Sophie Schack, widow after Chr. Rathlou; the farm got the name Sophienlund and was under Rathlousdal. Owner in 1964: H.C. Wiese.

The parish has got its name after Ringkloster which earlier belonged here. The reason for the division was said to be that the priest in Hylke parish during a "vacance" in Fruering pastorat (parish) complained to Chr. IV that his pastorat was too small, and his neighbours' too big, and the king took Ringkloster, Nissumgård and Tammestrup Øde from Fruering and added them to Hylke.

Vestermølle, which lies in a ravine, has often had floods, like in 1833 and 1881, but worst in 1909 when the mill-dam bursted and the water took the mill building, which was on fire after a lightning. In the 1700s was a fabrication of colours (yellow ochre). In Rødemølle was also a fabrication of colours from 1751, when the Crown established an ochre-fabric - and brown-red clays were made here. This stopped in the beginning of the 1800s.

At Vestermølle was a sacred spring Jernkilden; another spring is at Skårup upon the slope at Århus-Horsens landevej (country road). 

Listed prehistorics: 3 hills, among those the large Storehøj at Hvolbæk.
Demolished or destroyed: 16 hills.

An important find from a settlement from early Roman Iron Age was made at Gjesing. From Hvolbæk origins a treasure-find from Germanic Iron Age with 6 gold rings and 3 bracteates.

Names from the Middle Ages and 1600s: Fruering (1520 Ringh, Ryngj, 1573 Ring, Ringbye, 1664 Fruering, Ring); Virring (1311 Werrigh); Svinsager (1319 Suinszagger marck); Hvolbæk (1573 Huolbeck); Skårup (1573 Skarup, Skarrup); Gjesing (1305 Gesing mark); Vestermølle (1573 Wester Mølle); Hedemølle (1573 Hie Mølle); Rødemølle (1573 Røe Mølle).

GB

Source: Trap Danmark, Skanderborg amt, 1964.
photo 2004: grethe bachmann

Gosmer church / Gosmer kirke , Hads herred, Århus amt.

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

The large church in Gosmer was possibly dedicated to Sct. Theobald, since a reliquary was found in the communion table in the beginning of the 1700s, which had a note "in honorem Skt. Theobaldi". The church has apse, choir and nave which repeats the Romanesque building, a late Gothic tower to the west, a porch from 1866 to the south and a chapel to the north. The Romanesque building was totally rebuilt in 1866, probably mostly in the old materials and in its old figure, but strongly normalized. It is built in granite ashlars upon a bevel plinth, in apse with a double plinth. On the southside of the choir is a priest-portal with half-pillars and tympanum with a characteristic relief of the Deposition. The south portal has also half-pillars and tympanum, but the relief is here a human figure between two lions and two dragons, framed by a foliage edge, related to portals in Tranbjerg and Stjær church. The reconstructed choir arch inside has the old plinth with an arcade frieze. Apse has a half-cupolar vault, choir and nave have a flat loft. The late Gothic tower, where the bottom room is furnished to a burial, is built in monk bricks and has a staircase in the south wall. The upper section is heavily rebuilt in 1775 and especially in 1866. A chapel at the north side of the tower was removed in the rebuild in 1866, and the porch was built and later the chapel at the north side of the nave.

portal

portal, tympanum

apse, pillar with human heads.

stone mason mark

in chapel

The altarpiece is a carving in late Renaissance by Peder Jensen Kolding from 1637 with "somehow sweety" 1800s biblical paintings - an older and rather worn out alterpainting stands behind the altarpiece. Candelabres from 1790 with coat of arms and initials of Joachim O. Schack-Rathlou. A  Romanesque granite font in Horsens-type with lions between cross friezes and leaves and with a palmetta frieze on the foot piece. A South German bowl from ab. 1550 . A sounding board from ab. 1640, probably by Peder Jensen Kolding like a crucifix. A bell without inscription, probably from the 1400s.

A fragment from a Romanesque gravestone is placed above the entrance to the tower . A worn out figure stone for a priest from 1600-1700s.

Gosmer church in a distance

In the tower room an inside burial for the family Rathlou. The tower arch is partly closed by a richly carved epitaph for Chr. Rathlou (+ 1752) and Sophie Schack (+ 1771), whose coffins and several other coffins stand in the room, which is closed by an iron gate from 1759 with their initials. In the cellar several other coffins : with Gregorius Rathlou (+ 1681), and wife etc. In the chapel at the northside of the nave is an inscription table from 1783 and here are three marble sarcophagi by Wiedewelt with Joachim O. Schack-Rathlou and his wife and daughter. The chapel, which has now disappeared at the northside of the tower, contained members of the family Holstein-Rathlou - they were removed to the burial chapel in the forest at Rathlousdal.

Dybvad

Dybvad was a farm under Åkær Manor. The famous professor Jørgen Dybvad (+ 1612) was born here as a son of the tenant Christoffer Eriksen. In 1617 it was inhabited by Ejler Gabrielsen Akeleye; the farm was very dilapidated at that time. In 1630 he got a life's letter on it, but in 1647 he got a letter on Skovsgård and Bjerager Hovgård instead,  whereafter D. was inhabited by Valdemar Lykke. In 1664 D. was with all estate  laid out to Joachim Gersdorff's heirs. The son Frederik Gersdorff's guardian conveyed in 1665 D. to Laurits Brorson (+ 1681). After the death of his widow Anne Jakobsdatter Friberg in 1693 some of the heirs conveyed their part in D. to her son-in-law Oluf Friis (+ 1698), priest in Hundslund, who in 1694, together with Magdalene Sibylle Brorson (+ 1734) widow after Iver Joh. Bredal, priest in Dover and owner of 2/7 of D.,  conveyed it to Otte Krabbe of Åkær, who in 1695 transferred the buy to his administrator Mads Nielsen Rosenlund (+ 1696); whose widow Anne Jensdatter Lasson in 1698 married Peder Thøgersen Lasson of Rødslet. In an exchange after him in 1738 D. was taken over by the son Thøger Lasson, who 1750 also became the owner of Åkær, under which D. was placed until 1798, when Diderich Henrik Koch bought it. He conveyed it in 1801 to Mourids Chr. Piper, who in 1806 was allowed to do some out-parcellings (in 51 parcels). In 1809 it was bought back to Åkær, but in 1914 it was sold to Chr. Kreutzfeldt (+ 1953), whose son Bent Kreutzfeldt owned it in 1963.

The main building is listed in class B.

Skovsgård in Søby (later Gersdorffslund) belonged in 1381 to Jens Pors, it is possibly the same farm, which in 1559 under the name of Porsborg was conveyed to the crown by Jørgen Rosenkrantz. The Crown gave in 1572 mayor in Horsens Adser Sørensen a life's letter in the farm, in 1577 he renounced it in return for Hansted Hovgård in Voer herred. In 1633 and 1652 Rasmus Thøgersen is mentioned in P. The last mentioned year he received some timber, when the farm had burnt down. On 1664 P. was with all estate by the Crown laid out to Joachim Gersdorff's heir, who from P. and Højbygård and estate established Gersdorffslund. Joachim Gersdorff's son-in-law Gregorius Rathlou (+ 1681) built the halftimbered main building in 1674; it burnt down in 1713 by arson, but was rebuilt at once by the son, Christian Rathlou (+ 1752), who in 1749 incorporated it in his newly established entailed estate Rathlousdal. After the abandonment of this in 1921 G. was in 1921 sold after some outparcellling to Chr. N Lind, who in 1924 sold it to Gregers Juel of Juelsberg, who submitted land to the jordlovsudvalg, before he in 1925 sold the main parcel to T. Viggaard-Jensen. In 1953 it was bought by T Sand, Stidsmølle.

The present main building is a cultured little building-work in the 1840s style. The large three winged avlsgård (farm building) is contemporary to the main building.

Højby (1386 Howby, 1403 Høybye) belonged to Niels Knudsen and went after his death before 1386 to his mother Ingeborg, a widow after Tyge Puder. Her son Bent Puder is in 1406 written of H., and he willed in 1408 half of H. and the main part of the other half to Århus cathedral. His brother Tyge Puder had part in the farm and bought in 1409 his halfsister Marine Knudsdatter's part (she was m. to Iver Munk). The estate was probably inherited by the daughter Abel Tygesdatter, m. to Niels Kalf, for the son-in-law David Saxesen was in 1446 written of H., and his widow Mette Nielsdatter Kalf sold in 1483 her part of H. to the bishop in Århus; in 1518 he complained that H. was used without his allowance. In 1492 H. was written in documents  among the estate of Erik Ottesen Rosenkrantz and was laid out in 1499 to his late son Holger's children; Holger Rosenkrantz' son's son Jørgen Rosenkrantz exchanged in 1559 H. to the Crown, who placed it under Åkær. It was later divided in 2 half farms, of which one in 1632 was decided as a residence for a fændrik (soldier). In 1654 Ejler Gabrielsen Akeleye got a half farm in H., and here he lived still in 1662,  80 year old. In 1661 the 2 farms with Åkær were laid out to Joachim Gersdorff's heirs, who let them demolish, the lands were placed under Gersdorffslund.

Bjørnkær (1427 Biørnkiers gaartzsted) belonged to Niels Kalf, whose widow Abel Tygesdatter Puder in 1427 conveyed B. gårdsted etc. to bishop Ulrik in Århus.

Bjørnkær Voldsted (castle bank) in the southeastern outskirt of Vandmoseskoven consists of two square banks, each surrounded and divided by a moat. The eastern bank is on three sides surrounded by an outer, higher placed dry moat. In the excavations in 1930-35 was on the eastern bank found a granite boulder foundation of a monk brick building (ab. 4,5 x 6,5m inside measure), in which western wall was seen a door in monk bricks. In the south and east wall are traces of windows. In the cellar room's northeastern corner was found a well, from which bottom came interesting finds of clay pots, dishes and funnels. This find was shared between Odder Museum and the National Museum. It seems to origin from the 13th or 14th century and must have been used for some kind of destillation.

Gosmer was among the estate, which hr. Niels Brok gave to Ring kloster in 1330, in 1345 Per Jensen of Nim, a canon in Lund and Århus gave G. Church all the new houses, which he had built on the church site in Gosmerholm (1345 Gasæmærholm); in 1444 the væbner Jens Mikkelsen of Gosmerholm is mentioned. G. was possibly placed where Præstholm now lies; P. was earlier an annex-vicarage, but in 1579 the vicar in Ørting-Gosmer was allowed to moved to here, since the vicarage in Ørting had no water; Chr. IV stayed here 20-22 February in 1609 at a journey from Dronningborg to Haderslev.

According to Valdemar's Jordebog the king owned 7 mark gold land in Søby. Fensten was among the estate, which Erik Plovpenning's daughter's son Erik Valdemarsen was given by law in 1327. Lindegård (1372 Lingaardt) in F. was sold by Ilved Andersen in 1384 to Thomes Vestenie, who in 1401 conveyed it to Poul Stigsen (Hvide), who in 1414 sold all his estate in F. to bishop Bo in Århus.

In the parish were the villages Husby (1427 Huszby), who was disappeared in the beginning of the 1400s, and Lemmestrup (ab. 1492 Lemestrup, 1544 Lymmerstrup), which was built 1688 with 5 farms and 2 houses. It was demolished partly in 1674 by the establishment of Gersdorffslund.

A Voldsted, the castlebank of Fensten Hovgaard was placed in the meadow close west of the present farm. The castle bank, which was surrounded by water, is described as being 3-4 m high. It was demolished in 1860, and on that occassion was found a large iron key, which later just disappeared. The leveling has been so thorough that the placement of the castle bank is not visible.      

Listed prehistorics: In Ravnskov is Kæmpehøjen with a passage grave of 10 supporting stones and two  somewhat downfallen cover stones; furthermore a longhill, two hills and a stone with 39 hollows - all in the forests under Rathlousdal.
Demolished or destroyed: 3 stone graves and one hill. 

In a moor at Smederup was found a large wooden vessel with handles, placed in the moor as a well, here were broken pieces from 14 clay pots; not far from here were found 311 bronze rings, armrings, necklaces and eyelet rings - in Celtic Iron age, from where all the finds come, the moor was probably used as a sacrifice place.

Names in the Middle Ages:
Gosmer (1302 Gasæmær, 1534 Gosmer); Præstholm (1534 Prestholm); Fensten (1231 Phynsten, 1438 Finsteen); Smederup (1384 Smerup, 1544 Smerop); Søby (1231 Sæby); Dybvad (1544 Dybwadtt).

Source: Trap Danmark, Århus amt, 1963.
photo: grethe bachmann and stig bachmann nielsen, naturplan.dk

Haraldsted church / Haraldsted kirke, Ringsted herred, Sorø Amt

The church in Haraldsted has a Romanesque nave and a Gothic sacristy, longhouse choir, porch and tower. The Romanesque nave is a large building in travertine and raw boulder. The southern door is extended, while the northern is bricked up. The longwalls had each three windows, to the north all are kept as bricked up, while to the south only the westernest is traceable from the porch loft, glared behind the window glade. Ab. 1400 the nave had three cross vaults. The bottom section of the western tower, which possibly contains older sections, are built in mixed material, limestone and bricks, and it seems to be dated 1478 in an inscription in limestone on the south wall: "Dominus Ihesus Christus, alpha et omega, deus et homo, Maria, Johannes, sanctus Petrus, Herluf Skave, Fru Ølgoer, dominus Ericus Laurencii, Jep Andersen, Matis Tote. Anno Domini mcdlxx octavo."  Furthermore a clog with trunk is seen. Easternest on the north side an original stairhouse, where the bottom, flatcurved door is bricked up. To the south and west are remade windows in a threefoil-curved "mirror". The tower room was overvaulted after 1500, and a new upper section was built with a stairhouse to the south.On the east side of this and on the west side of the tower are carved limestone heads. The roof gables of the tower were rewalled in 1866. Before the original choir was demolished, was in ab. 1500 built a sacristy in bricks with three small, flatcurved windows and a glare-gable. In the beginning of the 1500s, possibly 1520 (acc. to a choir bench)  the choir was replaced by a longhouse choir with two flatcurved, outside rabbet windows in the south wall. The porch to the south from ab. 1500 was in 1520 enheightened with a floor-divided glare gable.

The walled communion table is covered in a panelwork from ab. 1550-75 with a  painted Renaissance-decoration, which copies intarsia around  a medaillon with a portrait of a man and a woman in contemporary dress. The altarpiece is a carved work in Renaissance from 1601, probably made by a Roskilde master. Altar chalice from ab. 1400, remade 1674. Candelabres in  silver plate from 1719. A pair of  mismatched Gothic candelabres are kept at Skjoldenæsholm, and a pair belonging together are at the National Museum. Altar crucifix  from the 1600s, probably from a coffin. In the footpiece of the altarpiece is an enamel painting  from 1700s, given to the church in 1817.  A side altar for Sct. Jørgen (George) in the choir was removed in 1816, and on this occassion was found a shrine with a relic in a parchment piece with inscription: " Anno 1514 Sanct Michels dag lagde vi..." Another side altar in the choir has disappeared later. Above the font is a thurible from the 1400s. The monstranshouse from 1527 is a rich late Gothic woodcarving with an upper part with spire. Cup-shaped ore cast font by the caster Olaf Henriksen Kegge. The baptismal bowl is from 1665-66. A late Gothic choir arch crucifix with a hovering angel from ab. 1525. The pulpit in Renaissance from ab. 1625 was probably made by Hans Holt in Køge or Copenhagen. At the original place by the wall of the choir is a late Gothic choir-bench, which by an inscription is dated 1520; furthermore a parish clerk-chair in the same work with flower gables and the coat of arms of bishop Lage Urne.The gables from the parish clerk-chair were together with a third late Gothic gable used in a new choir-chair by the north wall of the choir, and its present gables do not belong here. In the door of the nave is an excellent late Gothic door-wing from 1525 with the coat of arms of the pope and bishop Lage Urne. (probably made by the same master as the bishop's celebrant chair in Roskilde cathedral). Bells: 1) 1747 by Joh. Barth. Holtzmann;  2) 1779, M.C Troschell. The church yard has to the south and east partly medieval walls, with a gate to the south.

Knud Lavard's Kapel

Knud Lavard was buried in Haraldsted church (he was later buried in Ringsted church), after he was murdered in the forest at Haraldsted (Harrested Ore, "Lavardskov"), where he the night before had visited his family, Cæcilia, the daughter of Knud den Hellige and her husband Erik, earl and chief of Falster. Where Knud Lavard was killed, tells Saxo, a spring gushed up as a healing power for people (later in the Middle Ages another spring is mentioned, it came up where the bearers placed the stretcher while resting, when they brought the body from Haraldsted church to Ringsted). The tradition connected for a long time the memory about Knud Lavard and the holy spring to "Sværtekilde" 2 km north of Haraldsted village. It now lies upon an open field, but a long time ago it was surrounded by forest.  (here was still in the 1800s held mysterious midsummer feasts). It was also at this place where the chapel, built in the honor of Knud Lavard, supposedly was situated. This chapel had disappeared already in the 1500s, since a letter of 20/ 4 1566 from the Ringsted-abbot Frands Andersen to Frederik II mentions that there was a chapel at the small "Kellegaard" (Kildegård: kilde = spring), where the priest lived, and which earlier was used by the kloster-person, who had the supervision of the chapel for the sake of the indulgence-sale. In 1855, when Frederik VII let make examinations at Ringsted, they also searched in vain for the rests of this chapel at Sværtekilden by Kastrupgård. In some new examinations in 1883 dr. Henry Petersen found the ruin, but in quite another place, namely east northeast of Haraldsted village, at a place, which on the map was referred to as Kildemur ( = spring wall), close to the outskirt of V. After the reformation the chapel was probably used secularly, maybe for scullery or bakery. In the forester's lot outside the Hellebjergskoven (forest) was raised a cross 8/6 1902, Knud Lavard's kors, a 4 m tall wooden cross with a copper roof, given by Thor Lange with the inscription: "Hellig Knud Hertug, + 7 Jan. 1131" and upon a shield "Sursum corda". In 1912 was at the church place raised a memorial, also given by Thor Lange, with one of his inscriptions: " Her stod Haraldsted Kongsgaard." and below "Taarn og Tinde Tid forøder, Fortids Minde Fremtid føder." ( something like: time destructs tower and spire, but the prehistoric memory feeds the future)       













About 700 m east of the church lies the ruin (excavated 1884) of Knud Lavard's kapel, a Romanesque plan with apse, choir and nave, which already in the Romanesque period was extended to the west. The building was built ab. 1150 in travertine ashlars upon a double plinth, above which the walls are kept till 1 m height. The original door-places to the south and north have outer rabbet and inside bevelled frames. Still in the Romanesque period, possibly ab. 1170, the nave was extended to the west, also with travertine and upon a similar plinth. The door in the extension to the west has an outer rabbet, but straight frames. The chapel was overvaulted in ab. 1250, and at the same time the original doors were bricked up, and a new brick door was made in the north wall of the nave. In the western section of the building was found a brick floor in zigzag-pattern, probably from the same period as the vaults.

Haraldsted belonged acc. to Valdemars jordebog to the king and worked probably as its own birk (judicial district). Here was probably a kongsgaard (king's castle) which Knud Lavard's  relative Erik Jarl ab. 1130 had as a vasalry. In 1253 Christoffer I gave hr. Gunzelin, count of Schwerin "all property in Haraldsted" as a vasalry. Ab. 1520 belonged H. or a parts of it under Skjoldenæs vasalry, and followed this later to Roskildegård, and came from here in 1585 to Ringsted kloster. In 1588 the village or parts of it burnt down. In 1621 the vasal of Ringsted vasalry, hr. Axel Urne was given royal command to give the priest in H. free timber for the rebuild of his burnt house. At the same time he was told to let rebuild and repair the church- barn, so the king could sleep there, when he passed the place. In 1622 the king's road between Antvorskov slot and H. is mentioned, and in 1626 the peasants in Roskilde vasalry had restraining order to make a road for the king between H. and Roskilde. There is undoubtedly a close connection between these king's roads and "Kongens Hus" in H.  Still in 1639 neither road or house seem to be provided for. This year Jørgen Seefeldt at Ringsted kloster was ordered to as soon as possible to build the house in H. , which the king had commanded. From Chr. IV's last years and from Frederik III's time are several reports that royal persons resided in H., but under Chr. V. the house was probably demolished and the materials were sold. A farm close south southwest of the church has still got the name "Kongsgården".

On the north side of the eastern part of Langesø (lake) south of the village Valsømagle was a main farm, where the castle bank still exists. It seems that it from the 1300s belonged to a family Dyre. In 1377 is mentioned a Peder Dywr of Hwalsoemagle, in 1396 Jep Pedersen Dyur. In 1451 is mentioned a Jens Diur and 1459-61 Aage Diur in V.magle. In 1459-63 is also mentioned væbner Peder Nielsen Bryske, who used the coat of arms of the family Iis; in 1488-96 is mentioned a modest man Niels Mortensen in V. magle, whose ancestors by the kings had got sealed letters of "some freedom", which letters king Hans confirmed in 1488. In 1496 deeded Niels Mortensen his farm to hr. Henrik Meinstrup, high court judge at Sjælland, (+ 1497), who gave the king 2 other farms for his rights in the farm. It is obvious to assume that it was this farm, which his daughter, fru Anne Meinstrup (after her marriage to Holger Eriksen Rosenkrantz, + 1496.  She was called Anne Holgers) later owned and resided. She was in 1535 under grevefejden (civil war) killed by the peasants at the Sjælland Thing  in Ringsted, and her farm was destroyed by the rebels. After her the farm came probably to her daughter, Sofie Holgersdatter Rosenkrantz (+ 1558) who in 1551 or 52 after her husband hr. Axel Brahe's death gave her brother's children various estate and V. came probably to Erik Rosenkrantz of Arreskov (+ 1575), who in 1573 exchanged it with among others 17 farms in V.village to the king for Kærstrup (later Valdemars slot) at Tåsinge.  The farm was after the exchange equipped as a royal hunting farm with "fish parks" in the lake. In 1574 the king gave Eggert Ulfeldt at Roskildegård command to abolish the newly established royal hunting house in Høed, since one royal hunting house in this district was enough. Frederik II stayed in the following years often at V.gård, from where several royal letteres were issued. In 1585 the vasalry went to the king's "lone wolf ", Andreas von Stufenborg. In 1587 Andreas announced that the buildings were fallen into decay. Later the sources are silent about the farm. It was possibly replaced by the farm Nygård close by, which is mentioned in 1624, when the peasants in Valsømagle complained about that a field, which had earlier belonged to the village, was transferred to Nygård, without their taxes being reduced.  In 1627 high court judge Jakob Ulfeldt at Ringsted kloster had royal command to let the decayed buildings at Nygård break down and use the material for Ringsted kloster's corn barn.

At the north side of Haraldsted sø (lake ) south of Valsømagle village lies the enigmatic earthwork Ridebanen.  It consists of a 3 m high, half circular bank, closed towards the lake but open towards the land, where the two ends of the bank, with a distance of 50 m, join a hillside. A road leads down the hillside to the place inside the banks.

A little west of Ridebanen at the lakefront lies the wellkept castle bank Nygård, the old site of Valsøgård. It consists of a  four-sided bank, surrounded to the west by a moat, to the north, east and south by hollows, which originally might have been water-filled. In the southern hollow are two small rectangular ponds. Upon the castle bank are traces of a boulder foundation of two wings, an eastern and a northern. In the lakefront outside the castle bank are rests of pilework. Still rests of the road across the moat are seen. The farm was destroyed during the grevefejden (civil war) but was probably rebuilt.

Farthest out upon a small landtongue, which stretches from the east out to the low meadows at Gørlev sø, lies the wood-covered castle bank Gørrildsborg or Jarleborg; it consists of a rectangular bank (ab. 55 x 45 m). In connection to this a lesser front-terrain stretches to the northwest; this is hardly a part of the fortification, but only the farthest end of the ridge, in which the bank was cut out. The situation of the castle must probably be viewed in connection to the old "Kongevej" (king's road), which passed east of the bank and the river at Holtebro.

Upon a hill south of Skåninggård in Valsømagle were in 1938 found traces of a monk brick wall upon a boulder foundation. It is not known to where the wall work belongs. Some pieces of ceramic seem to date to the High Middle Ages.

Listed prehistorics: At Kastrupgård a long dolmen with 2 chambers; at Skee Tåstrup a very disorganized dolmen chamber. 6 hills, like the impressive Dronninghøj and Kernehøj, both west of H.
Demolished: A dolmen and 25 hills, mostly in the western part of the parish, Kongshøj west of H. was very impressive.

In Skee Mose (moor), was found a now disappeared settlement from the Maglemose culture. At Valsømagle was a rich and important sacrifice find from the beginning of Bronze Age with 5 axes, a sword, 4 spearheads, a dagger and a fish hook, it was found in two piles with about 80 m's distance. At H. a burial place from late Roman Iron Age.

Names from the Middle Ages :
Haraldsted (1231 Haraldstath, 1357 Konigsharaldstethe); Valsømagle (1321 Walsye Maklæ);  Skee (1256 Scethæ); Skee Tåstrup (ab. 1370 Thorstop); Allindelille (1257 Alunde paruum); Egtvedgård (ab. 1525 Egtuid); Kastrupgård (ab. 1525 Kastrvp). 

Source: Trap Danmark, Sorø amt, 1954.

photo 2004: grethe bachmann