Fjelsø kirke / Fjelsø church Himmerland

Fjelsø kirke, Rinds herred, Viborg amt
ab. 20 km north of Viborg 


The Romanesque Fjelsø church is placed high in the northern part of Fjelsø village. The nave and the choir were built in carved ashlars in the 1100s, the whitewashed tower in the 1400s and the porch in 1847.  The north door is bricked up  In the brick-up section is a relief of a Romanesque male head, which turns upside down. In the southern wall of the choir is also a relief of a male head turning upside down. On purpose ? Superstition ? Or a coincidence!

male head upside down

Digitalis by church dike

The altar was originally a large carved granite block. The block has been en-heightened and covered with a wooden panel. The paintings in front of the altar was made in the beginning of the 1700s. Parts of the altar date from the 1500s, but the main part is from the 1700s where it was given to the church as a gift from Christen Sørensen.

Two biblical altar paintings were made in 1895 by the artist Luplau Jansen.

male head upside down

A chalice and a dish for the Holy Communion  were given to the church in the 1600s by the priest Jens Nielsen Brasen, which name is also engraved in the candlesticks with the year 1666. On the foot of the candlesticks is also the name Jens Poulsen. It is said that he gave them to the church as a penance for some damage which happened in a negligent burning of  heaths in Vesterbølle. The present altar jar and wafer box were given by parson Hans Nielsen Højgaard in the years 1916-43.

The granite font is probably as old as the church itself. The baptismal dish is rather new but an earlier dish from the 1700s hangs upon the wall in the choir. The oldest part of the pulpit origins from the 1500s with picture--fields in two storeys. The decorations were made in 1736.
The priest tablet is new and was made in 1944 with names of the priests since the Reformation. The priests before the Reformation are not known.

The ship model "Nordstjernen" hangs in the nave. It is lent out from Gedsted church. The altar gobelin is from November 1981 and was designed by the teacher-couple Ruth and Holger Møllebjerg, Hvalpsund. It was embroidered by local people

The church bell (with no inscription )  is from the late 1200s.

source. Flemming Kloster (Erik Horskjær (red.) De danske kirker Gads forlag 1968. 




photo and text August 2015: grethe bachmann 

Mern church, Langebæk Kommune, Southeast Zealand.

Mern church , 9 km south of the town Præstø

Mern church built 1200-1250, extended to the west ab. 1300. Sidenaves, porch and tower 1500-1550.



The village of  Mern is divided in two sections separated by Mern Aa (river). On the northside of the river lies the vicarage, while the large highplaced medieval church is situated on the southside of the water. The church is a  Romanesque brickwork building from the first part of the 1300s.




In the 1300s the church was extended to the west, to the east the choir gable was reinforced by a supporting pillar and later decorated with a stepped glare gable at the time of the longhouse choir-building ab 1500. The church was immensely extended, probably inspired by the "mother church" in Præstø. Sidechapels were built to the north and south. The double-naved church room is divided by columned arcades. The west tower was built in the 1500s, probably after the reformation.


                                                








Most of the medieval inventory was sent to a museum (except the Romanesque baptismal font). The  pulpit is a Renaissance work made by a local master from Vordingborg Bertel Snedker in 1596 (also called "Baarse herred's snedker."

                                                      

The prettiest artifact is the redpainted iron-plated door, dated anno 1637,  but the round arched door is lavishly decorated  with  crooked and winding wrought iron which brings to mind the Viking period and the snake ornaments from the early Middle Ages. tTe door handle is an image of the copper snake in the desert.
















In the porch is a memory tablet for the war hero Anders Lassen (1920-1945).He was born at Høvdingsgård east of Mern and was killed in North Italy as a major in the British army. The Danish adventurer and the son of a landlord is the only foreigner who was decorated with the Victoria cross in WW2, (which is the highest British honorary award for heroism). (Three Danes received the V.C. in WWI.)
 Anders Lassen


 Anders Lassen's mother Suzanne Lassen has made some of the decorations in Mern church during the 1920s.





The church has two bells, a large bell from ab. 1350 with Latin inscription Ave Maria gracia plena. The large bell was probably from the beginning placed in a bell-frame in the church yard. The small bell is from 1617 with inscription Hartwich Qwellichmeyer Gos mich anno 1617.


The church ship is named Anna. It was given to the church by a local captain Niels Hansen and made by a local blacksmith Fritz Bredskov. His wife was named Anna.



The National Museum informs that the earliest part of the main nave and a small choir which probably was with barrel vaulted wooden ceiling, origins from the Valdemar-period.

Mern church was restored 1999-2000.



Source Danmarks Kirker Niels Peter Stilling.

photo grethe bachmann

Tyrsted church/ Tyrsted kirke, Vejle amt

photo: Google Earth







Tyrsted kirke, Hatting herred, Vejle amt.



Tyrsted church lies about 300 meter south of Tyrsted village - in 65 meter's height  upon a big slope which goes down to Horsens Fjord. The church was always solely situated and visible in the landscape. The village is now urban area, but the church has kept its free location  - and from the church yard is still a view of the landscape. The church yard is surrounded by double, grassy granite boulder dikes. The old main entrance is a driving gate to the east. The present entrance is a port with a gate from ab. 1900, closed by iron grating wings between tiled pillars in red bricks.


The church was heavily restored in 1866 and later in the 1800s. Later changes and additions are all in monk bricks. A cornice of yellow bricks has been added under the roof which was raised in 1866. Tyrsted church was restored again in 1994. The floors in the church are square with yellow and grey tiles from 1866-67, in the choir they were re-newed in 1994 with pink tiles. The roof is tiled, except the choir has a leaden roof . The church was in 1986 given a colour scheme when the furnishings became a green background colour, supplemented with red, black, white and a little blue.

The church walls are raised upon a low, but strongly eroded plinth in calcareous tufa, which is visible to the north and east, but else is covered by the terrain. The northdoor is engulfed in a large round-arched opening, the bricked southdoor is only vaguely traceable under the westernest window of the nave.

The church is a Romanesque building of calcareous tufa, consisting of choir and nave. The masonry is rather disturbed, original details are the round-arched windows which have stood since 1903 as exterior niches.

Around 1500s a tower was added and a porch in the north, and at the same time vaulting was built in the choir and the nave. In the choir is one and in the nave three cross vaults.

The heavy tower is almost as broad as the church, it has four storeys -  the middle storey is divided in two - the old masonry is kept to the north, partly also to the east, while the other facades are face-walled with monk bricks in 1866-67. The tower room is conncected to the church in a  broad pointed arcade. There is access to the upper storeys via a staircase in the northern wall .
 
The porch has in the gable kept parts of a late Gothic glare decoration. In the porch is walled-in a tombstone for the pilgrim Peter Kæller (the 1300s) -  and the church is by many used as the start of a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostella. It is possible to visit the church in the day hours - or else by appointment with the church office. The pilgrim stone is Gotland limestone - and it has a beautifully carved figure of the pilgrim Peter Kæller. .



Inventory.
 
The only thing contemporary with the building is the simple Romanesque granite font. A south German baptismal dish is  from ab. 1550, but only came to the church after 1700. The altar candlesticks were donated in 1693 by Anna Maria von Offenberg, countess of Frijsenborg. Almost all remaining furnishings came with a radical restoration around 1866-67. This applies to the neo-Gothic altarpiece, the altar rail, a crucifix, the pews and the hymn boards. The altar plate from 1911 was supplied by Rasmus Jensen, Horsens and bears the donor's inscription of the church-owner, count Mogens Krag-Juel-Vind-Frijs.

A wafer with the mark Sterling from 1986. An armchair for the priest from 1886 in the choir. Three chandeliers from 1913 in Baroque style 1913.

A church bell, cast 1895 by Jørgen Stallknecht, Horsens. A bell from 1425-50 has casting mark for N. Eskildsen. It is now in the National  Museum.


Gravestone ab. 1620 for Rasmus Hansøn, priest and parson, with his dear wife Karen Iensdatter.
Some cast iron crosses in the church yard from the 1700-1800s. 

 Source: Danmarks Kirker, National Museum.

Almind church / Almind kirke, Lysgård herred, Viborg amt.

Almind Church, 5 km southest of Viborg
Almind sogn, Lysgård herred, Viborg amt

The church in Almind has a Romanesque apse, choir and nave and a late Gothic tower to the west The porch to the south was broken down. The original section is built in exquisite well-carved granite ashlars, except under the nave's western third, which might be an extension. The original eastern window of the apse and the northern of the choir have various shaped monolit cover stones. In the north window of the nave is an original wooden window frame with carved round curved light-opening. The two doors of the nave have quart-round pillars carved in the frame stones, corner knots with the plinth, capitals and smooth tympanums etc. In several ashlars are deepened figures and one with a projecting human head. Upon apse and choir arch are profiled kragbånd. Apse has an original quart-cupola vault, the nave has two late Gothic octagonal vaults, the choir has a plaster loft. The tower is built in raw granite boulders and monk bricks; it has on the west wall the initials HES CMF and the year 1779. The flatlofted inside of the tower now functions as a porch.

Communion table in pine, probably from 1929 like the altarpiece, which has a fresco-painted cross in the middle. A peculiar modern altar cloth with flower embroideries. Altar jar ab. 1850 in Copenhagen porcelain. Late Gothic altar candelabres. Romanesque granite lamp ab. 34x 23 cm with two oil hollows , bricked-up in the wall of the choir. A Romanesque granite font with a smooth, grey basin upon a red square, profiled foot. A large smooth baptismal bowl in brass with engraved Renaissance shield with the initials I O V M D. Ancient baptismal pewter jar. Pulpit in rural Renaissance , ab. 1600, in four sections with arcades, Tuscany corner pillars with acanthus decoration. A simple gable from a pretty Renaissance pew is preserved in the west-gallery. A Romanesque church bell without inscription from the second half of the 1100s.


landscape at Almind

Names in the Middle Ages: Almind Kirkeby (* 1451 Almind, 1499 Alminningh kyrcke); Vranum ( 1498 Vrannum); Tostrup (* 1455 Thorup, * 1486, 1499 Tostrup) ; Tolstrupgårde (* 1488 Tolstrup) ; Snabegård (* 1477 Snabe, 1499 Snabbæ) Mostgård (1552 Mostegaard).

In Kapeldalen at the estate matr. nr. 5a in Almind is a from 1939 listed Skt. Margrethe-kapel, which was ab. 19 m long and 9,5 m broad with walls in raw granite boulder and monk bricks. The chapel was situated in the pretty valley down to Hald sø (at the old main road) and is mentioned 1499; in 1623 it was a ruin. At the site is a sacred well, Skt. Margrethes Kilde.

Mostgård and Mostgård Mølle belonged to Skt. Hans kloster in Viborg, but was sold to hr. Mogens Gøye of Aunsbjerg (+ 1544).

Snabegård belonged in 1477 to Erik Eriksen(Løvenbalk) of Aunsbjerg; in 1512 Niels Clementsen got Erik Eriksen's son Gert Eriksen (Løvenbalk's) part of Aunsbjerg and Snabegård, but in 1548 conveyed Gertrud and Pernille Eriksdatter (Løvenbalk) S. to Niels Skeel of Vinderslevgård, whith which it came to the Crown.

Listed prehistorics: 37 hills, of which 13 form a pretty group, which originally were 25 hills south of Tostrup; one of these hills is very large and just south of the group lies the also very large Kongshøj. Other large hills are Rebmandshøj between Almind and Tostrup, Tinghøj east of and a hill south of Almind, a hill at Snabegård and Staghøj in the large group at Vranum. At Grundvad Mejeri are 5 hills of which 3 are in Vium parish.
Demolished or destroyed: 136 hills, of which several were in groups along Hærvejen, which runs through the parish from Non Mølle till Grundvad, like the large groups at Birgittelyst and Vranum. One of the hills at Vranum contained a grave from early Bronze Age with a neck collar, belt plate, 5 tutuli (jewelry plates) 4 bracelets etc, another contained two urns, of which one is a face urn. - At Non Mølle is a settlement from Gudenåkulturen.

Source: Trap Danmark, Viborg amt, 1962.



photo Almind 2006: grethe bachmann

Karup church / Karup kirke, Lysgård herred, Viborg amt.

Karup Church, 20 km southwest of Viborg
Karup sogn, Lysgård herred, Viborg amt.

Karup church is a late Gothic longhouse in monk bricks to which was added a porch to the south in 1940. The doors in the western section are the originals (round-arched with a point-arched frame), the south door still in use, the north door walled-in. Ab. 1900 were above the two doors placed two fine Romanesque granite-tympana from an earlier church, the north door with a relief of Christ, the south door with a cross. The white-washed building got its present look after 1744. Karup was in the Middle Ages a famous place of pilgrimage with a sacred spring, visited by pilgrims and diseased in large numbers; rich gifts poured to the church. The origin of the church's reputation of being sacred was due to the legend about a blind man, who bathed in the spring and got his sight back. Then a chapel was built and later a church. After the reformation the church was falling into decay. In 1714 the tower was destroyed by lightning, and in 1744 the choir, cross-nave and the tower were demolished, and the present east gable was built with a place for the church bell.


The north door with Romanesque tympanum

The communion table is in monk bricks with a round-arched opening through the table. The table panel has arcade-fields with carved biblical monograms and the year 1601. The altarpiece from 1745 with paintings; in the postament field is an inscription saying that Steen Jørgensen of Aunsbjerg was the giver of the church-restoration in 1744 and paid the altarpiece and the new decorations on pulpit, parish clerk-chair and the altar in 1745. Three large figures from a late Gothic altar piece were placed in a new cupboard and is now in Viborg Domkirke. Other saint-figures are at Viborg Museum.


A simple gable


The north door.

Altar chalice with an inscription: that king Frederik in 1652 gave this chalice to Karup instead of another one. Under the bottom are engraved coat of arms and "Mogens Høg". The king took the other chalice , which had an insription from 1486, to his kunstkammer; it is now at the National Museum. Late Gothic altar candelabres. From a late Gothic monstrans-cupboard the spire is now at Viborg Museum. Rectangular altar rails from 1940. The basin of the baptismal font with four roughly carved male heads upon a primitive foot in boulder is hardly Romanesque;it was probably originally a secular trough. A granite aspersorium on its original place, east of the south door, roughly carved. Pulpit from ab. 1700 , now without pictures or inscriptions, ornaments from 1940. A heavy iron-bound money block from ab. 1600. Church bell recast 1913 at Åbyhøj Støberi. The old bell, which was cast in 1525, cracked during the funeral ringing for king Fr. VIII; its reliefs were out-sawed and came to the National Museum. Another bell was according to Pont. Atlas transferred to Bording church. Gravestones: a portrait stone from 1480s in the choir for Johannes Avonis, presbyter et provisor, he still lived in 1489.


Karup Å

Names in the Middle Ages and 1600s:
Karup (*1419 Karup); Vallerbæk (1578 Vallebeck); Bøvllund (1578 Byglundt, 1608 Bøgllundt); Majlund (1683 Mayelund).

The sacred spring was re-discovered in 1906 southeast of the church, close north of Karup Å, where once was a small chapel.

In connection to the church was a hospital, the priest was often the principal. The hospital is mentioned in 1480 and it is hardly earlier than the church. Among the principals are Johannes Avonis 1480, hr. Anders Nielsen 1484-87, hr. Jens Ouszen 1489, hr. Peder Clementsen 1511, hr. Mourids Poulsen 1525 and hr. Søren in 1537. Soon after 1537 it was probably abolished.

A chapel at Karup is mentioned in 1482, maybe the same which is named St. Margrethe's Kapel, which supposedly was identical to the Grå Kapel (Torning parish).

Listed prehistorics: 9 hills, besides some hills on the border to Frederiks and Resen parish. Two near the north-border are rather large.
Demolished or destroyed: 15 hills. At Vallerbæk was found a bunch of weapons from late Roman Iron Age.

Source: Trap Danmark, Viborg amt. 1962.


photo Karup 2004/2006: grethe bachmann

Dollerup church / Dollerup kirke and Hald, Nørlyng herred, Viborg amt.

Dollerup church, 10 km south of Viborg
Dollerup sogn, Nørlyng herred, Viborg amt.

Interior


Late Gothic crucifix


The church yard


The church bell cast by Borchard Gellgieter 1601


Dollerup church upon the hill

Dollerup Church is high and lonely situated in a hilly area in the middle of the broad system of roads Hærvejen which runs through Jutland to the border. East of the church was earlier a square place surrrounded by earth banks where only one bank is preserved today, supposedly a fold for the cattle when resting.

Dollerups history dates back to the late Viking period, and the Romanesque building is from ab. 1200 in granite ashlars. Nave and chorus were extended later and a porch from the beginning af the 1600s was added to the gable where the church bell is placed high upon the wall. The church bell was cast by Borchard Gellgieter in 1601. A thympanum from an old portal is since 1876 walled-in on the south wall, and remains from another portal are now in the north side of the porch at the present entrance to the church. The church yard has heavy stone dikes, the earliest part is a half prehistoric field.

Inside are beamed ceilings. The altar piece and pulpit are Renaissance. A brickwork projection in the south east corner of the nave was possibly a side altar but is now supporting the pulpit. In the south wall of the chorus is a niche possibly once used for a relique or as an outlet for the holy water. A money chest is now placed in the niche. Upon the wall hangs a late Gothic crucifix. The church was renovated in 1958. The Romanesque granite font is marked by a bad cut up in 1879. It has a plain basin upon a profiled foot with male heads in four corners.

Dollerup church was once in danger of being demolished together with the church in Finderup. Godsejeren ( Lord of the Manor) upon Hald 'The Mad Schinkel' wanted to build a new church by his manor instead. He was then allowed to close down the two churches on condition that he built them again in a better state of repair. Luckily this did not happen. (Instead he extended Finderup church and gave it a tower. see Finderup church)

Hald

The fourth Hald, bishop Jørgen Friis' Hald
Dollerup sogn, Nørlyng herred, Viborg amt.

Names in the Middle Ages and 1600s:
Dollerup (1516-18 Doldrvp, Doldrop); Fallesgårde (1664 Fallinds Gaard, 1688 Falleds Gaard); Stanghede (1525 Stange Hee); Nonbo (1516-18 Noyndbo(o), 1538 Nundboo); Hald (* 1346 Hald); Non Mølle (1516-18 Noyndbo mølle), 1541 Nwnmølle); Dollerup Mølle( 1594 Dolerup Mølle).

Hald Manor, one of the Danish manors with a long and dramatic history. Hald was owned by hr. Ludwig Albertsen (Eberstein) (+1328), whose daughter Margrethe sold her part of Hald to her brother Peder Ludwigsen Eberstein. In 1345 Peder pawned his 2 parts of Hald to Ridder Niels Bugge (+1359) and Niels Bugge bought 1346 the whole estate. Valdemar Atterdag bought Hald from Niels Bugge's son-in-law Ridder Gottskalk Skarpenberg. Hald was pawned to Timme Limbek from whom Queen Margrethe redeemed it in 1387. She gave Hald Castle and Estate to the bishop in Viborg with the provision that the castle had to be demolished and the materials used for the cathedral in Viborg. Hald Castle was rebuilt by bishop Jørgen Friis. After the reformation Hald Castle and Estate went to the Crown and was a seat for the vassals on Hald. Today it is an international education center.

There are three important medieval castle banks at Hald.
1) The earliest, Brattingsborg is placed upon a slope field at the lake Hald sø. No ruins.
2) The second Hald, named Niels Bugge's Hald is placed by the coast of the lake south west of the present manor. No ruins.
3) The third Hald was built by bishop Jørgen Friis and is placed upon a foreland in the lake east of the present manor and below the first Hald. There is a tower and some ruins at Jørgen Friis' Hald.

In the garden south of the present main building were found rests of the fourth Hald built in the beginning of 1700 by Gregers Daa.

The fifth Hald, the present main building was built in 1789 in red bricks in a simple neo classic style.

Listed prehistorics: 37 hills of which several are rather large: a hill west of and two southwest of Stanghede and Oleshøj at Skelhøje, where were once a large group of 22 hills, now only two hills left.
Demolished or destroyed: A stone cist in Guldborgland Plantage, now moved to Viborg Museum, and 85 hills, of which a large part belonged to a row of hills from east of Fallesgård, passing Skelhøje down through Frederiks and Lysgård parish. Another row of hills goes through Viborg Hedeplantage and through Finderup and Ravnstrup parish and forms the beginning of the large prehistoric road which reaches the North Sea south of Bovbjerg.

Source: Trap Danmark, Viborg amt. 1962.


A view to the lake Hald Sø from Dollerup Bakker

Dollerup Bakker is a very popular recreation area with nature paths winding through hills and forests and with some magnificent view points. The whole area around Hald Sø is listed. Most of the Danish forest types are seen here, the special Hald Egeskov (oak) with crooked old trees and a beautiful old beech forest upon Inderøen, (the inner island) by the lake. The hills are grazed by cattle, horse and sheep. Hill, meadow, heather, forest, lake, river valley and lots of winding nature paths. At Hald Hovedgaard is in the big barn an exhibition showing the nature and culture of the area. The barn also functions as a resting place for hikers and there are possibilities for fishing at the lake. Opposite the second Hald, Niels Bugges Hald which is seen as a circular fortification system is Niels Bugges Kro (the Inn) with a good kitchen. (where they sell fishing cards for the lake). Close to the road between Hald and Dollerup village is the Ice House in the hills, where there's both food, drinks and ice etc. Have a nice trip!


photo Hald 1999 & Dollerup kirke May 2006: grethe bachmann

Balle church / Balle kirke, Hids herred, Viborg amt.

Balle church, northern suburb of Silkeborg
Balle sogn, Hids herred, Viborg amt.

Northwest of the city Silkeborg in Mid Jutland is the village Balle Kirkeby, in 1418 named Ballow kircke. Upon a hill in the village with a view to the lake Silkeborg Langsø is the Romanesque Balle church. Nave and chorus were built in the 1100s and later extended in the Middle Ages. The porch is late Gothic and restored in recent times. In the late 1700s the little bell tower in the gable was added. The church bell is one of the earliest in Denmark, from 1250.

The Romanesque sections are built in granite ashlars. The south door has two halfpillars and two free pillars and a thympanum with a cross between birds. The north door has double half pillars. The nave inside has vaulting arches and in the chorus a star vault. The medieval communion table is built in stone. The altar piece, the pulpit and the sounding-board are Renaissance from the 1600s. In the porch is a Romanesque grave stone with a carved cross.


Balle church from the north.


The north door with double halfpillars

Names in the Middle Ages and 1600s:
Balle Kirkeby (*1418 Ballow kircke); Balle by (*1426 Rieballe, Ryebalge, *1469 Balle); Hvinningdal (*1418 Hunningdal, 1664 Huindingdal); Øster Bording (*1483 Øster Borring); Vester Bording (*1483 Vester Borring); Overgårde (1610 Offuergaardtt); Skægkær (1683 Skær Kier); Vester Kejlstrup (*1406 Vester Kelstrup).

In 1446 Erik and Lars Hvas sold Hvinningdal to bishop Ulrik in Århus; they possibly inherited it from hr. Elef Elefsen (Bild).

Two villages in the parish have disappeared: Bellerup (* 1511 Biellerup) at the hillside Bellerup east of Gubsø, and Vognstrup (* 1501 Wogenstrop) at Vester Bording. In 1683 is mentioned a small heath named Wogenstrup.

In 'Skovbakken' west of Balle was earlier a sacred spring.

In the northeast corner of the small wood 'Hestehaven' is a natural embankment by the beach of the almost dried out lake Gubsø , which undoubtly was a fortification place. Rests of walls built in granite boulder and monk-bricks were found here in 1893. In the lake itself is a tongue of land which is still named 'Dronningeholmen' ('The Queen's Islet'). Here was said to be a fortification bank and rests of bricks, but there are no visible traces today.

Listed prehistorics: 17 hills, a hill north of Hvinningdal is large, here was a group of 10 hills, of which only two are left.
Demolished or destroyed: 79 hills. In the hill-group north of Hvinningdal was found a house site from Iron Age.

Source: Trap Danmark, Viborg amt, 1962


photo Balle kirke October 2002: grethe bachmann

Visborg church / Visborg kirke and Visborggård, Hindsted herred, Aalborg amt.

Visborg Church, 4 km northeast of Hadsund
Visborg sogn, Hindsted herred, Aalborg amt

The impressive church in Visborg, situated upon a hill with a slope to the south and west,has a rather unusual building history, since the original Romanesque church is almost totally rebuilt during the Renaissance period. It has the rests of a Romanesque nave with a tower from the Reformation period and a choir-part, sacristi, chapel and porch, probably all from the 1590s. The tower has a cross-vaulted bottom room and a flat-curved tower arch. A very pretty flat-curved window to the west shows a close connection to the porch-portal in Astrup Church, dating the tower to the 1540s. The building was renovated in 1943.

The rich inventory is mainly marked by the Renaissance. The altar piece on the re-built communion table is from ab. 1600, given by Sophie Bille with the coat of arms of Rosenkrantz, Seefeld and Bille. The original painting was brought back after a renovation. Altar-rails in wrought iron from ab. 1600. In the choir are two pairs of choir-stools, each with four seats and carved gable-planks with extraordinally coarse animal figures in high relief. South German baptismal bowl from 1575 with the Habsburg-coat of arms. Pulpit from the same time and with the same coat of arms as the altarpiece. The pews are from various periods 1) 1570 with the coat of arms of Johanne Nielsdatter Rotfeld of Havnø ; 2) from 1574; 3) from 1587 with the coat of arms of Jakob Seefeld and wives; 4) from 1636.



A glazed tile with the year 1585 was found in the floor in the renovation in 1943, it is now on the wall of the nave. Small chandelier from 1721, given by ritmester Jakob Kjærulf. A door wing is between the porch and nave , iron bound with the year 1592. A painting "The Coppersnake in the Desert" from the 1700s hangs in the chapel. Church bells: 1) from the beginning of the 1400s, small without inscription; 2) from 1672, given by Birgitta Urne and Claus Seefeld. Church Ship: Warship "Hendrik Harren" from ab. 1850.

The church is rich in burials, under the sacristi and the choir were large burial vaults, which have now been cleared. In the sacristi are sandstone coffins with colonel Andreas Arenstorff, + 1764, and his wife Sophie Marie von Schiebel, + 1761. From earlier funerals are several plates and some armour-pieces on the walls. A a coffin plank - which was a piece from a wardrobe-chest from 1585 with the coat of arms of Oluf Krognos and Anna Hardenberg - is at Aalborg Museum. Above some wooden-grating doors is a large family-group picture painted in 1600 imaging Jakob Seefeld and his wives and children. Several gravestones, for families Seefeld, Rosenkrantz, Bille from the 1600s.

Visborggård


Visborggård belonged in 1343 and 1351 to Anders Nielsen, in 1401 to Jens Nielsen Munk (Vinranke-Munk), possibly Anders Nielsen's brother; in 1408 and 1422 to their sons Niels Andersen and Mads Jensen (Munk). After Mads Jensens' death ab. 1442 it came to his son hr. Jens Madsen Munk, + 1501, who was the owner from 1445. After him V. went to his son's sons Jens and Jakob Munk, but they died childless, and V. with 37 farms and 16 bol (small farms) came to their mother Inger Andersdatter Bjørn, married 2) with Jens Thygesen Seefeld , + before 1537. In 1534 Visborggård was burnt down by Skipper Klement and his peasant army. After Enevold Jensen Seefeld , + 1557, it came to his son Jakob Seefeld, + 1599, . After his death his widow Sophie Bille was the manager of his many estates until her death in 1608. After the family Seefeld during the 1600s various owners , families Urne, Svane, Benzon, Arenstorff, etc. Since 1938 Visborggård is a home for the mentally sick.


Visborggård, the sandstone-portal

The main building is listed in class A. It is surrounded by broad moats. A three-winged plan, dominated by the south wing, a fine Renaissance-building, built in 1575-76 by Jakob Seefeld. The walls are red monkbricks upon a tall granite-plinth which stands directly in the moat without a bank, except around the gable and the side-winges where is an area between moat and wall. The facade is flanked by octagonal corner-towers. The tall cellar has windows in the shape of arrow slits. A rich sandstone portal in high Renaissance with plate with the coat of arms of Jakob Seefeld and his two wives decorates the entrance gate . Above the gate was once an enormous gate tower, and all walls had cornices; the disappeared gables were decorated with sandstone. Fragments are kept in a cellar-room at Visborggård. Jakob Seefeld's building plan was very impressive, the still preserved wing was connected to two side wings, an eastern and western - and the legend says - probably true -that it had seven towers, besides the others were stairway towers in the inside corners, and at the northern gables were corner towers . The stairway towers are still traceable.

A painting at V. (portrait of Claus Seefeld) from 1668 shows the towers equipped with spires and the building with weather vanes in the form of jumping deer. The original side wings were probably demolished ab. 1730. Various changes during the years. Some loft-paintings are preserved . A terracotta-fireplace is at the National Museum. Opposite the bridge which replaced the original drawbridge are two sandstone bears with the coat of arms of the family Arenstorff.

The sandstone-portal and a French-inspired Baroque-garden are the attractions of Visborggård. Public access to the court yeard and the garden.

Havnø


Havnø was in 1468 owned by hr. Jens Madsen Munk (Vinranke-Munk) of Visborggård , +1501. With his daughter Eline it came to Hans Lykke , + before 1511, and his children hr. Peder Lykke, + 1535, and Erik Lykke, whose widow Anne Kaas (Sparre-Kaas) had it by law 1541. Their son Hans Lykke, + 1553, owned Havnø, and after him his widow Johanne Nielsdatter Rotfeld of Eskær, + 1577, and son Erik Lykke, + 1602. After his widow Dorothea Krabbe Havnø came to Iver Christoffersen Lykke between 1609 and 1614. Various owners, families: Seefeld, Krag, Rosenkrantz, Benzon, Sehested etc. Some outparcelling.


Havnø Mølle

Names in the Middle Ages and 1600s:
Visborg ( ab. 1343 Wisburgh, 1351 Wisborgh, 1401 Wæsebwrgh); Glerup (*1456 Glerup); Strandkær (1552 Strandkiergord); Glargårde (1571 Glashytten, 1664 Glargaarden); Møllegårde (1664 Møllgaarden); Visborggård *1456 Wiszborggaardt); Havnø (*1468 Haffnøe, Hannøe, 1477 Haffneøø, Haffuenøø) .

The Thing was earlier at Visborggård, in ab. 1680 and 1743 it is mentioned in Visborg By. (town)

Upon the road between Visborg and Visborggård is a small hill with trees and a memorial stone for the white horse which the king, Christian X, rode across the border on the tenth of July in 1920. (Genforeningen).The owner of the horse was grev Danneskiold-Samsøe of Visborggård.

Listed prehistorics: One longhill and 22 hills.
Demolished or destroyed: 16 hills

Important kitchen middens from Ertebølle-kulturen are known from Havnø (Lundebakke, Visborg Bjergbakke). In a moor by Glerup was an important sacrifice-finding from Bronze Age . Several stone graves from early Roman Iron Age, one at Møllebakken in Visborg and a weapon-grave at Glerup.

Source: Trap Danmark, Aalborg amt, 1961.


photo Visborg kirke/Visborgård 2003-2007: grethe bachmann