Allerslev church, Vordingborg Kommune, Sjælland

Allerslev kirke/ photo gb

Allerslev church is situated high in the village of Allerslev. The country road between Præstø and Mern runs past the church. South and west of the church are beautiful large lime trees. The church yard itself is also rather closely plant. The church is placed in a hilly terrain, where the village is surrounded by fields and the white-washed church is very visible in the pretty landscape and functions as a significant point of orientation. 

Allerslev church belonged in a period to king Christian V. who gave it to the queen's courtmaster-lady Sidsel Grubbe. The church had various owners during the centuries; three owners were Jungshoved, Engelholm and Oremandsgaard, before the church in 1914 was transferred to freehold.

Allerslev church has a Romanesque choir and nave with a late Romanesque extension, a late Gotic west tower, a sacristy north of the tower and a porch from the second half of the 1800s. The white-washed tiled church is built in limestone ashlars, while the tower is built in monk bricks. The choir has to the east and north a double bevell-edged plinth, while the possibly older nave to the south has a cornice frieze upon a bevell-edged plinth. The round arched northdoor stands since 1915 and in the east frame are two interesting runic inscriptions: "Jordan ristede runer; tyde dem, den som kan?" og "?Gyrth ristede sit navn på ? messe?"

Allerslev kirke/photo gb

The south door is vaguely visible. The choir had to the east and north some broad and low, now bricked-in windows, while none of the other light-openings of the nave are visible. In the late Roman period the nave was extended to the west and in the extension were placed two new doors, the north door seen inside with planks and the south door has been changed but is in use. In the late Gothic
period  was built in two cross vaults and the choir arch was changed. In late gothic period the choir had built in two cross vaults and the choir arch was changed. 

The nave has still  a flat ceiling. From the same period as the vault of the choir is the sacristy which is unusually large - and from the beginning it was equipped with a sadkle roof parallel with the saddle roof of the choir.  Upon the wall of the sacristy is a wall-cupboard from 1700s. Both church bells are late Gothic, probably cast by the same craftsman. The tower in monk bricks has belts of limestone  ashlars and the cross vault has a bottom room and a triangular tower arch and a stair-house in the southeast corner. A medieval gravestone was used twice ca 1630 and 1758. All the present windows are from 1868 and the neogothic porch somewhat younger.

Allerslev kirke/ wikipedia

Upon the bricked, plank-covered communion table stands an altarpiece in high Renaissance with painted year 1590, but it is possibly a little earlier, since the top field has Denmark's and Mecklenburg's coat of arms (the last for Frederik 2.'s queen Sofie.) The great field is divided in six and flanked by Corinthic pillars. The altarpiece looks like it was made by the socalled "Bårse herreds snedker" (joiner). The two bottom pilastres have logos with monograms HB, RH and TC. Upon the great pillars' postaments are small reliefs. The Chatecism-altarpiece was in 1988 restored, directed by church painter Erik Ring Hansen.

The pulpit is Renaissance from 1610 and carved at Abel Scrøders workshop in Næstved. Restored in 1935. The chalice from 1812 is an unusual shape, almost like an urn upon a shaft, surrounded by three hangers  and the contemporary wafer box functions as a lid. A neogothic altar jar is from 1861. The heavy baluster-shaped Renaissance candelabres from ab. 1625 have holes from disappeared feet. An unusual pretty young Gothic choir arch crucifix from the beginning of the 1300s is restored in 1935 with a new metal crown. The Romanesque, rather course granite font with leaf ornaments is related to the font in Køng kirke.

 

Upon the new upper pews are top pieces from the middle of the 1600s with angel heads. The angel heads upon the upper pews are carved ab. 1650 by an excellent master. In 1993 the artist Bodil Kaalund made an exciting new up-painting upon the other 19 top fields of the pews, she painted small motifs from known verses in Danish psalms. Allerslev kirke's Busch organ is from 1890. In connection to a restoration of the church in 1993 the gallery was decorated with three biblical motifs by Bodil Kaalund. 

Allerslev kirke/ photo gb

Source:  Beskrevne kirker i Danmark,  Allerslev kirke, Præstø .

photo: grethe bachmann

photo: wikipedia.

Hals church / Hals kirke, Vendsyssel

Hals kirke, 29 km east of Aalborg

Hals church (Aalborg Kommune)  was built between 1250-1300, it was extended with longhouse choir and tower in ab. 1500, the porch and chapel are from ab. 1600. A thorough restauration in 1741 and 1920.  It was said that it was built at the initiation of the bishop of Børglum. The original church was a small late Romanesque brick church which wallwork is partly kept in the oldest section of the present church Hals church is the biggest village church in Denmark.

Hals church in the village of Hals lies by the eastern  outlet of Limfjorden and close to the sea of Kattegat. It was built in the late 1200 in bricks. About 1500 the church was extended with a longhouse choir to the east and a tower to the west. Later in the same century were built a porch to the south and a chapel for the Family Skeel of Hals Ladegaard 

Hals Ladegård was  situated west of the church until 1950 where it was broken down. .

In the choir stands a fine granitefont with double lions with protruding heads. The font belongs to the Himmerland-section of lion-fonts, which finest example is in Stenild church. The sounding board above the font is a carved late Baroque woodwork from 1727. The initials SH refer to king Frederik 4.'s pious sister Sophie Hedevig, who was a collector of estates. The princess owned Hals Ladegaard from 1716 until her death 1735.


In the choir is an extremely rare piece of inventory from ab. 1300: an incense burner in early Gothic style. Another medieval piece is the late Gothic choir arch crucifix.  (hangs on the wall of the nave)
The pulpit and the altarpiece is a simple Renaissance work from ab. 1600. The altarpiece is dominated by a biblical painting from 1899,. one of the paintings by the mass-producing Anton
Dorph, who was a diligent church painter around 1900. He painted dark, moralizing paintings for many Danish village churches.




Source: Danmarks Kirker, Niels Peter Stilling, 2000
photo: Google Earth 

Gangsted church/ Gangsted kirke, Voer herred, Aarhus amt.

                                                                              

West of the village lies Gangsted church in a low rise in a highplaced open agricultural land in the central section of Voer herred. The churchyard is surrounded by a granite boulder dike. In the western side of the churchyard is a burial chamber from 1948. Earlier was a church barn northwest of the tower. 

Gangsted church has a Romanesque choir and nave. It is built in  rough-carved granite ashlars upon a bevelled plinth. Inside the church are fieldstone-walls and a few ashlars in the west-end of the nave. The north door and some windows are bricked, and outside the south door was in the Middle Ages built a porch in granite and half-timber. A bricked bench is kept in the room of the porch.

Both doors have very impressive rectangular lintels. One early window is kept in the north side of the choir and another re-opened in 1900. At the gable of the porch is a lintel in grey-red granite. The tower is Late Gothic in monk bricks and re-used granite ashlars, and it has a  pyramid roof and a weather vane from 1782  (1893?)with initials I S C M I.  The tower had originally stepped gables north-south. The northwest corner of the tower rests upon a large fieldstone with marks after the stonemason's chisel.

Inside the church has the nave a flat ceiling, and the choir and tower are overvaulted since the Late Gothic period.The church had main reparations in 1794,1807, 1832 and a large restoration in the middle of the 1980s. The floor got black-greywhite tiles in 1907. In 1987-88 were found fragments of frescoes made after the Middle Ages (black drapery) In 1932 a glass painting was made in the west of the tower room.

                                                                             
Interior:
The altarpiece is Baroque ab. 1600, a carved work, given by Gedske Lucasdatter. A lightning in the church 1894 damaged the altarpiece which got a new painting in the big field in 1895, a copy of Carl Bloch's "Julenat" (Christmas Night). The pulpit is new, from ab. 1800 in oak and with painted figures, the granite font is Romanesque with  lion figures and foliage. (Horsens-type).

Parking place reserved the church singer and the priest.

                                                                                                                                                       
 A brass money box, a bell from 1837 cast by Carl Frederik Weiss, Horsens   A memory tablet from 1695 with the names Bertel Fædder, Laurits Friis and their wife Gedske Lucasdatter (+ 1695). A memory tablet over 2 killed soldiers from 1864. A coffin crucifix from 1650-1700.  3 cast iron crosses from 1854 in church yard. .











Tyrrestrup see blog:  Søvind church , owner today: Jens Harder




 source: Danmarks Kirker. National Museet.

photo: grethe bachmann 
+ Google Earth.

Mellerup church / Mellerup kirke, Støvring herred, Randers amt

Mellerup kirke, stig bachmann nielsen, Naturplan.dk

The small church in Mellerup is an ashlar building with choir and nave and a porch at the south . The Romanesque sectiont, the choir and nave, are built in granite ashlars. In the choir gable, where the tip is rewalled with small grey-yellow Flensborg bricks, is a bricked-up Romanesque window, while other two are still in function, one on the north side of the nave, and one on the north side of the choir. Both original doors are kept,the north door is bricked-up, but visible as a niche out and inside, and on the outside equipped with rope windings in the linte. In front of the simple south door  a large porch was built in the late Middle Ages, which heavy walls, built in monk bricks, seem to reveal that this is the bottom of a late Gothic tower. The narrow choir arch is preserved inside with heavy unprofiled kragsten.

Mellerup kirke, stig bachmann nielsen, Naturplan.dk

The Mellerup crucifix

A Renaissance altar piece with the year 1621 and the initials M P T stands upon a granite communion table. Decorated pillars and side wings flank the big field which has a reproduction of Leonardo's "Last Supper". The altar piece earlier had the monograms of Eske Brock and Christence Viffert. The altar candelabres have the coat of arms of Mogens Kaas and Sidsel Friis and the year 1631. A Romanesque font with a rope decoration. A carved Renaissance pulpit, which has double pillars with decorations and intarsia and a carved year 1634, contemporary sounding board and entrance through the wall of the choir arch. A Gotic crusifix upon the wall , showing Christ with a crown of Thorns, restored in 1944 (the Mellerup crucifix). In the western gable a church bell without inscription, from the late Middle Ages; it was earlier in a bell-frame on the church yard. A church ship "Helene Charlotte" was in 1954 given to the church as a memory about a privateer from Mellerup.

At Mellerup is a sacred spring, Maren Tomesdatters kilde, which was used as a healing spring still around 1900.  

Listed prehistorics: 3 hills, Rytterhøj in the northern part of the parish, Tathøj, rather large with a water tank inside town and Stenshøj west of this.

Demolished or destroyed: 9 hills.

At Mellerup was found a settlement from early Roman Iron Age.

Source: Trap Danmark, Randers amt, 1963.
photo: grethe bachmann and stig bachmann  nielsen, Naturplan.dk

Hee church / Hee kirke, Hind herred, Ringkøbing amt.

Hee Church, ab. 9 km north of Ringkøbing
Hee sogn, Hind herred, Ringkøbing amt.

The very impressive church in Hee north of Ringkøbing and not far from Stadil fjord is one of the strangest and most important buildings in Denmark from the Romanesque period. Once it was a herredskirke (district church) and it was probably inaugurated to Vor Frue. It has a Romanesque choir and nave and a little later was added another Romanesque front hall and a tower to the west and two additions at the south side of the nave, the westernest probably from the late Gothic period, the other probably from the middle of the 1500s. Furthermore was at the northside of the choir a probably late Gothic sacristy, which was demolished after 1769. The choir and the nave have only kept few original details, since all windows are replaced with large neo-Romanesque from 1882-84. Only the simple bricked-up north door is traceable.


Inside the church are new beamed ceilings and the choir arch seems extended. In spite of a tough restoration the large interest is the very rich western section, where the details point at Ribe domkirke. The tower section is built in granite ashlars upon a profiled double plinth, from which raises pilastres which divide the facades in fields. The portal in the west gable has free pillars upon attic base and with palmet-decorated cubic capitals under a tympanum with double lions. In the top is a small pillar in every corner of the building and between them are to the north and south small circular windows, everyone carved in one stone, and to the west two similar halfcircular, everyone below a projecting grotesque human head. In the upper section of the tower is a double opening divided with a pillar, opening to each corner of the world, and a smooth gable to the east and west.


pulpit and parish clerk chair

The front hall has a low heavy ellipse arch to the nave and a similar connects on the west wall a stair tower to the south with a free-standing square pillar to the north, while between these are very broad round arches, supporting the upper section of the tower. Between the arches is a rectangular cupola vault. In the middle storey are two small rooms, which get their light from the small round windows. The archive of Hind herred was once kept here, probably in the northern side room ,which is the most isolated and a tradition says that they were a place of refuge for fru Ellen from Voldbjerg (Ellen Krag, married to Peder Skram?). The whole upper section of the tower is re-newed, since it after a break down was rebuilt in 1721 in bricks, and the strange western section was broken down to the ground during the thorough restoration in 1882-84. The two additions at the south side of the nave was on the same occassion normalized into Romanesque style. The western side was original a late Gothic chapel with a pointed arch to the nave and a cross-vault, the eastern probably from the middle of the 1500s, built in granite ashlars from No kirke which was demolished in the reformation -period. The whole building now stands with a blank granite wall and lead roof upon new roof works.

Late Gothic crucifix ab. 1450

Stone mason mark

Two human heads on the tower

The altarpiece is an impressive carved work in late Renaissance from 1635, probably by the same master as the altar piece in Gudum church. The four pillar structure has in the middle field a high relief of the Holy Communion, flanked by evangelists and apostles, in the top field the Crucifixion and Resurrection. The altar chalice has Renaissance-shape but is probably a copy. Very heavy Baroque candelabres upon very large feet. In the choir is a parish clerk stool in late Gothic style from ab. 1550 with the coat of arms of Juel and Munk and a priest chair in very rich high Renaissance, ab. 1600. A Romanesque granite font in West Jutland type. South German baptismal bowl ab. 1575. A font sounding board in Renaissance ab. 1650 with the coat of arms of Otte Krag and Anna Rosenkrantz. The pulpit with corner pillars and portal fields is a Renaissance work from the beginning of the 1600s, similar to the pulpit in Ringkøbing. In the portal fields fine paintings from the late 1700s. A contemporary sounding board. The manor pews have the year 1655 and the paternal and maternal coat of arms of Otte Krag and Anna Rosenkrantz. Other pews with the coat of arms of Fasti and Spend. The rest and more simple pews are from the same period. In the nave a fine Gothic choir arch crucifix from ab. 1450. A large ship model "Håbet." The bell was re-cast in 1932.


Names in the Middle Ages and 1600s:
Hee (1291 He); Hvingel 1450 Hwyngel); Ejstrup (1465 Esdrup); Sirsbæk(1564 Siersbæk); Haelby (* 1474 Halbye); Agersbæk ( * 1474 Aunsbech, error for Aursbech, 1512 Agersb(æ)ck); Sønderby (* 1474 Sønnderbye); Nørkær (* 1486 Kier, 1664 Nørkierd); Voldbjerg(* 1433 Wolberg, 1443 Olbergh, 1453 Wolbergh); Sønderkær (1664 Synnderkierd); Nørgård (1547 Nørgaard); Folagergård (1610 Fold Agger); Hindø (1424 Hyngøø); Ølstoft (* 1475 Ølsztofftwad, 1664 Ølsztofft Gaard); Sanddal (1610 Sannddael); Bratbjerggård (1545 Bratberg); Voldbjerg Mølle (1664 Wolberg Mølle).

Voldbjerg is a main farm/manor, which in 1433-65 belonged to Peder Skram of Urup, who was married second time to Ellen Iversdatter (Krabbe or Krag?) Their daughter Ellen married Erik Christiernsen Fasti, who is mentioned of V. in 1473-84 and in 1474 claimed the farm by law. In 1474 are mentioned as earlier owners of V. old fru Ellen, hr. Iver Krag, hr. Johan Bjørnsen and hr. Peder Skram. Erik Fasti's wife Ellen Skram is mentioned of V. still in 1489, and from their children are mentioned Iver Eriksen of V. in 1485-94 and Peder Skram, who took the Skram-name after his maternal grandfather, in 1497-1537. The last mentioned's widow Christence Lunge is written to V. in 1543, and V. was inherited by the son Erik Skram and his brother Iver Skram, who is mentioned 1548-80.From his sons: Peder of Strandbjerggård (+ ab. 1613) Spend and Erik Skram (+ 1607), with his son Peder Skram the family died out; it seems that Spend Skram became the sole owner. He had given his wife Joland Jespersdatter (Vognsen livsbrev (to own for life) on V., but she came to soon in childbirth with her second husband Niels Lange of Skrumsager, and she was then judged to give the farm to her first husband's heirs, among whom Dorte Skram, married to Frands Poll of Starup (+ 1613). Later owners: Krag, Rantzau, Richter, outparcelling in 1795, main parcel sold to P. Grønlund, Clemmensen; owner 1936: L.N.Voldbjerg-Sørensen.


In a meadow ab. 250 m southwest of Voldbjerg is the old farm's Voldsted (castle bank), an oblong, castle site ab. 27 x 36 m. To the east a bridge lead over the now dried out moat. About 50 large oak planks were digged out at the castle site.

Agersbæk was earlier a main farm. In 1512 is mentioned væbner Niels of A., in 1532 Splid Bang and in 1538 it seems that Predbjørn Podebusk and Niels Ebbesen (Galt) had a part in the farm.It belonged later to Albert Friis of Haraldskær (+ 1601), whose daughter jomfru Lisbeth Friis in 1604 owned A., which she in 1625 leased to her brother-in-law Truid Bryske of Langesø. In 1627 Tønne Friis sold it on his late aunt's heirs behalf to rigsråd Niels Krag (+ 1650), whose son-in-law Hans Juul of Stårupgård in 1650 sold it to his brother-in-law Otte Krag of Voldbjerg. In 1688 3 peasants lived at A. and it belonged under Voldbjerg.

In 1465 is mentioned væbner Christiern Knudsen (Harbou) of Hee.

Sanddal vandmølle, established ab. 1545, was abandoned in 1674. In 1627 it belonged to the Crown.

Hindø belonged probably to Bo Høg of Ørum, whose son's son Lage Christensen Rød in 1424 had a feud with Ingeborg Vendelbo at Vosborg about H. among other things. When Søgård in Nysogn in 1604 was given to Mogens Juel by law, H. followed too. In 1626 and 1634 Otte Kaas (+ 1647) lived at H., which he later sold to Niels Krag, who placed it under Voldbjerg administration.

Hee Kro (inn) was earlier named Nørtoft (1610 Paa Tofft).

Listed prehistorics: 11 hills, all in the eastern part of the parish. At Bratbjerggård are Kvindhøjene, original 4, now only two left, one rather large. Two other large hills are in the heath to the east.
Demolished or destroyed: 12 hills, only two of these were in the southwestern part of the parish.

Source: Trap Danmark, Ringkøbing amt, 1965.


photo Hee kirke 2003: grethe bachmann

Thise church / Thise kirke, Nørre herred, Viborg amt.

Thise Church , 15 km north east of Skive
Thise sogn, Nørre herred, Viborg amt.

Thise Church is the easternmost church upon the peninsula Salling in North Jutland near Limfjorden . It was built ab. 1200 upon a burial mound. The choir and nave are Romanesque and built in granite ashlars . There are three late Gothic additions - a western tower, a sacristy to the north and a porch to the south. The late Gothic tower is built in re-used ashlars and monk bricks with a pyramid roof and a spire. Upon the tower is the year 1787 and the initials AQ and MR referring to Anders Quistgaard of Jungetgaard and his wife Mette Ring. A free staricase in the north side of the tower gives access to the upper storey . The church bell is from 1788. The sacristy is built in ashlars, granite boulder and monk bricks. The porch is possibly Renaissance, built in monk bricks in irregular bond. Both original portals are partly preserved. The south door is in use, but very crumbled, it has a couple free pillars and a blank tympanon. The north door is alike but has lost its pillars. There are three Romanesque windows on the north side of the nave.


The inventory is marked with simplicity. The beamed ceilings are flat, the broad choir arch is the original. The sacristy has a cross vault. The altarpiece has a painting from 1876 by the important Danish Guldaldermaler Constantin Hansen. The pulpit in oak wood and the sounding-board are from 1603 with painted fields and a coat of arms for the family Bille who was the owner of Jungetgaard. The best artifact of the church is a pretty early Gothic crucifix from the beginning of the 1300s. The Romanesque granite baptismal font is of a very simple type. Between choir and sacristy is a heavy oak plank door with strong iron hinges and lock, which probably dates from before 1500 when the sacristy was built. I is now painted red like the church door.

Thise kirke was restored in 1986-87 since the church room was heavily worn by damp damages.


This is how a church dike should be with big stones and plants.
Many dikes at Danish churches are damaged.

Names in the Middle Ages and 1600s:
Sønder Thise (* 1467 Tyszet, 1498 Tyisse, 1610 Sønder Tisze); Thisetorp ( 1524 Torp, 1683 Torp, Tiisze Torp); Hedegårde (1524 Hieegardt); Øster Hegnet (* 1467 Heynit, 1664 Øster Hegnet); Børsting (1610 Børsting); Kildskov (1498 Kielskoff); Bjergegård (1610 Bieregrdt) Sundsøregård (1664 Sundzør).

Thise Bundgård was in 1672-86 inhabited by Niels Parsberg of Eskær's widow Helle Gyldenstierne, in 1686 she conveyed it with 8 houses to her daughter Lisbeth Parsberg, married to Jørgen Høeg (Banner).

Hedegård belonged to Knud Pedersen Gyldenstierne of Tim (+ 1552) and his son Axel Gyldenstierne (+ 1603). In 1682 it belonged under Jungetgård, likewise in 1791.

Upon the border between T. and Junget parish from Gåsemosen til the fjord stretched an old earth dike, Borgediget, which according to the legend was raised in a border feud between T. and Grættrup villages. It is now demolished.

In Gåsemosen was during peat digging found a bridge dam in raw granite boulders and timber, which according to legend led to a castle Hav- or Hagbjerggård, possibly the castle in Brokholm Sø. (Grinderslev parish) .

Listed prehistorics: 10 hills, of which a large hill at Kildskov and a lesser on the church yard. Demolished or destroyed: 44 hills, mainly on the hilly land out to the fjord, and a long dolmen at the church; a hill at Kildskov possibly contained a passage grave, another at Sdr. Thise a stone cist, in which were a flint dagger and a clay-pot. - At Hvalpsund was a kitchen midden, at Hedegårde a settlement from early Stone Age.

Source: Trap Danmark, Viborg amt, 1962.


photo Thise kirke April 2004: grethe bachmann

Hillerslev church /Hillerslev kirke, Hillerslev herred, Thisted amt.

Hillerslev church , Thy, 8 km north of Thisted.

The Romanesque Communion table, a very heavy monolitplate rests upon a heavy circular midpillar. The altar piece is since 1920 a gilt wooden cross in connection to frescoes in the apse behind it.

Interior

The Romanesque granite font is a Thybo-type.


In choir a relief head

High Gothic crucifix in choir from 1350-1400, one of the best wooden sculptures of the district.

The brass crucifix was once a coffin crucifix and later a part of an earlier altar piece. A side wing and some figures from this late Gothic altar piece (ab. 1475-1500) are preserved. This is now placed upon the wall in the tower room together with a heavy Baroque altar piece from ab. 1700. A choir grating from 1698 with figures and reliefs is placed by the south door.

Chessboard


A lion i relief with a human leg in the mouth, above is scratched another lion in the stone.

A human head (bishop?) upon the apse

Animal head upon the apse .

The apse
Hillerslev Church has a Romanesque apse, choir and nave, a late Gothic tower and a new porch. The Romanesque part is built in granite ashlars. The richly decorated apse, (changed in 1886), is split up in five bays with slender pillars. Above every bay is different ornamented corbels of human and animal heads. The rather large east window has in the monolit coverstone a carved lion, and upon the upper frame stone to the south is a relief of a lion with a human leg in its mouth. In the next archades were lesser windows which are now walled-in. The choir has kept its north window with a curved coverstone, and in the north wall of the nave are kept two re-stored windows. Both doors are seen, the south door is in use while the north door is walled-in. Upon an ashlar in the north wall of the choir is a protruding relief head, and in the walls in general are several stone mason fields, among those a chess board ashlar. In the top of the north wall of the choir is placed a fragment of a stone lamp- a small ashlar with three round hollows.
The inside of the church has beamed ceilings and in the choir arch with profiled kragsten is a relief head. The late Gothic tower from ab. 1500 is built in re-used ashlars and yellow monk bricks. In the tower room, which has a pointed arch to the nave, was in 1886 placed a cross vault. A stairhouse on the northeast corner with a spindeltrappe(spiral staircase) and an entrance from the nave leads up to the middle storey. The outer walls of the tower are re-walled. The west gable is probably from 1687, while the east gable is from the second part of the 1800s.
The Romanesque granite communion table has a very heavy monolit top, resting upon a large round middle pillar. As an altar piece is since 1920 a gilt wooden cross in connection to a frescoe in the apse. From a late Gothic altar piece from ab. 1475-1500 is preserved a side wing and some figures. The piece is now placed in the tower room together with a heavy Baroque piece from ab. 1700, similar to the piece in Vesløs Church from 1701. An earlier altar crucifix in brass, originally a coffin crucifix , hangs in the choir arch. A Romanesque granite font in of the Thybo-type. A south German baptismal basin from ab. 1575. A choir grating from 1698 with figures and reliefs placed by the south door. A fine High Gothic choir arch crucifix from ab. 1350-1400, one of the best wooden sculptures of Thisted district, restored in 1930. A Renaissance pulpit from 1645 by cabinetmaker Jens Nielsen from Snedsted with naive archade reliefs. A couple of archade fields from the pews from ab. 1650 are kept. The church ship from ab. 1750-75. Church bells 1) 1641 by Claus V(oillardi?); 2) 1783, by D.G. Herbst.
Gravestones: 1) Romanesque granite gravestone, shaped like a gravetree, decorated with greek crosses; 2) Romanesque double-gravestone in granite, ab. 1200, with reliefcarved coat of arms and cross and the names "Thorchil" and "Mergret, along the edge a crumbled runic inscription, probably a prayer to Virgin Mary; 3 and 4) Romanesque grave stones with relief crosses, but without inscriptions.
Names in the Middle Ages and 1600s: Hillerslev (*1231 Hyldæslef, 1608 Stuor Hillersløff); Skovsted *1435 Skoffzsteth, *1449 Skowesteth); Kelstrup (1458 Kilstrop); Brund (1600 Brondt); Lille Hillerslev (1602 Lilhellersløff, 1608 Nør Hillersløf); Kanstrupgaarde (*1491 Kanstrup); Kortegaarde (*1491 Kortegaardt); Jensbygde (*1497 Jensby); Oddershede (1600 Odershiede); Kilsgaard (*1559 Kieldtzgaardt);
Kelstrup is mentioned earliest in 1458, plus in 1466 ("Kiellstrup") and again in 1497 (Kielstrop"), when the noble man Mogens Kirt sold a farm in the village to his brother Henning Kirt.
Hillerslevhus Manor was earlier a royal castle. By inheritance 1263 Hillerslev and other estate went to Erik Plovpenning's daughters Jutta and Agnes. Hillerslevhus is probably identical to the 'Hyldæslef' , which is mentioned in Valdemar's Jordebog (main part) from 1231. Among the Jute 'kongelev' (king's estate) Valdemar's Jordebog mentions 'Hyldeslef'. Hillerslevhus was in 1460 handed over to Niels Strangesøn Bild . 1423 Henrik Gyldenstierne is mentioned as høvedsmand (army chief) at the castle, which probably was destroyed during the following peasant revolt.

North of Hillerslev village (500 m north of the church) is Hillerslevhus Voldsted (rampart) in the meadow, surrounded by steep banks. It is very levelled now, but in spite of the destruction it is easy to see how it might have looked. Upon the banks were only place for a single house or tower. In a minor excavation were found rests of a pile bridge between the banks. The banks were built up in earth and limestone upon a layer of branches placed upon the original boggy ground. It seems that the buildings upon the banks were timber, but 'munkesten' (early bricks)were found too. The farm belonging to the castle was probably situated upon the higher land area, as it is mentioned in a priest-report from 1638.
Kortegård was in 1491 owned by the Børglum bishop.
In the parish is mentioned in *1483 a farm Kringe; in ab. 1600 the farms Overgård (1600 Offrgrdt) and Dal 1600 Dall); in St. Hillerslev also the farms Keldtoft (1600 Kieldtofft), Ved Kirken (1688 Ved Kirchen) and Hove (1606 Hoffue) south of the church.
Listed prehistorics: 14 hills , among those the large Tinghøj (1638 Gamel Thinge hye) and Styvelshøj and 3 Galgehøje on the hillside south of Hillerslev; plus the long hill Kløvenhøj. - Demolished or destroyed: two long dolmens and 52 hills. - In the southwestern part of the parish are found two Iron Age settlements with house sites.
South of the church was a sacred well.
Source: Trap Danmark, Thisted amt, 1961
photo 14 April 2006: grethe bachmann