Mariager Abbey /Mariager Klosterkirke , Mariagerfjord Kommune

Mariager klosterkirke, Mariagerfjord Kommune, Region Nordjylland

 










Mariager Abbey  (Danish: Mariager Klosterkirke) was a Bridgettine abbey founded in 1430 which became an important pilgrimage site, in the present town of Mariager in northern central Jutland. The abbey was established in the rule of king Erik of Pommern in the period 1425-1432. The real founding year is regarded as 1446, where Pope Eugenius 4. confirmed a transfer of the two earlier Bridgettine abbeys in Glenstrup and Randers to the Bridgettines in Maribo. .

In the abbeys of the Bridgettines lived both monks and nuns, but in separated buildings on each side of the church. The nunnery consisted probably of 3 wings which formed a closed yard, where the church was the south wing. The monastery were several buildings south of the church and the north wing as an addition. Preserved till present is the church and the north wing of the monastery, while the other buildings were demolished once in the 1700s and the beginning of the 1800s.


Mariager abbey, (Mariager Klosterkirke) lies in the town Mariager by the beautiful Mariager fjord
Like in Maribo at Lolland a small town grew up around the abbey, but Mariager is still one of the smallest market towns in Denmark.

The abbey in Mariager was built as a three-naved church with a characteristic stepped east gable and a later added slende tower to the west. The reformation meant the final days of the abbey, although it was first abolished as late as 1588. The large church became the parish church of Mariager town - and during the next 200 years there were financial problems about maintaining the large building. The town management gave up in 1788, and the church was rebuilt in 1788-1789. The drastic rebuild was a demolition of the four eastern sections, including the choir, while the rest was rebuilt from a three-naved church into a cross-armed church, supported by outside pillars. At the cross arm was in the 1930s rebuilt a longhouse choir

Inventory
Frescoe on the north wall of the choir is a fragment of a freso from the first building period,. a magnificent descriptions of persons, artistically some of the best frescoes from the 1400s. Upon a pillar in northern cross arm is a strange image, meant to show a coat of arms of Thor Degn from the 1200s, but it was obviously painted much later.

In the tower room are two famous procession- figures, the wooden sculopturres are realistic but also typical for the period ab 1500s. The figures are concentrated about Christ and his suffering and death.

The Renaissance pulpit is a simple work ab 1720s, the decoration is from 1724. The altarpiece is a fine Baroque woodcarving  from 1690. In the big field is the big supper which is the main motif with the crucified Christ above, surrounded by the nearest , Maria, Johannes and the apostles in woodcarved free-standing figures.

Upon the south wall of the nave hangs a large late Gothic crucifix . The baptismal font is in wood from the middle of the 1700s and given to the church by its benefactor etatsråd Matthias de Thestrup (+ 1769), whose burial chapel was abolished in 1931. From earlier burial chapels were Holger Eriksen Rosenkrantz from 1495, which was abolished in the 1560s when Jørgen Rosenkrantz of Rosenholm collected the bodies of his late forefathers in Hornslet kirke. Also the family Løvenbalk from the manors Tjele and Aunsbjerg had built and owned a burial chapel by the church.

by the kloster lake

The most famous headstone in Mariager belongs to the last Catholic Børglum bishop, the excessive Stygge Krumpen, who died in Asmild kloster in 1551,  a magnificent portrait stone celebrateds his memory,but he is not buried under the stone, his mummified body was shown to the public until 1871- 1873 in an open coffin, but common good manners demanded that the body was moved to the burial chapel of the noble family Krumpen. The bodies from this chapel were in 1931 buried in the church yard.





On the big church yard are kept pieces of pillars and some debris of graves from the abbey period. The church yard was extended in 1894 and is marked by the civil grave memorials of the market town Mariager. 

by the klosterlake.

Source: Danmarks kirker, Niels Peter Stilling, 2000; Nordens kirker ; National Museum; 

 photo: grethe bachmann

Hammer church /Hammer kirke, Hedensted Kommune.

Hammer kirke, Hedensted kommune, 20 km west of Horsens foto gb

Hammer church was mentioned in a document for the first time in 1457. The church lies in an open terrain, which slopes from north and west down to the river Gudenaa, which is a part of the border in the small parish. Hammer church is a small church without a tower, the orientation is not east-west like most other churches and it is not a village church. It lies very desolated and nothing indicates that there was ever a village here. It is most likely that it was built by a local magnate. The history of Hammer church is connected to a nearby, earlier main farm Hammergård, which lies  1/2 km east of the church. .
 
The church was probably built in the late 1100s. It was consecrated to Maria Magdalena and belonged to the Århus bishop during the Middle Ages. At the reformation it was like most other churches taken over by the Crown, which entrusted the income to the parish at the Chapter of Århus. Latest in 1553 Hammer church became annex to Linnerup church

During the Swedish wars in the 1600s there were plunders by the foeign troups (both enemies and allied)  all over Jutland. The parish of Hammer suffered much under this and many farms were destroyed. When Århus Chapter was closed in 1666 the Crown took over the church once more until 1745, where it was transferred to the nearby farm Hammergård. The owner of Hammergård announced in 1809 that the church was now taken over by the parish. In 1908 the church became formally freehold, and in 1911 it became annex to Tørring church as it is today. After this the parish belonged to Haderslev stift since 1971 (.Hedensted Kommune)

The original church is built in travertine with a cernel of field stone. Later were probably in 1400s used monk bricks for a thorough restore. Once in the 1700s was built a thatched porch, but it was replaced in 1867, and the present porch was built. There was possibly earlier a burial chapel on the northside of the choir. The roof is red tiles, earlier it was a lead roof.  The wooden ceiling in the choir was inserted in 1862 after the earlier late medieval vault was ready to be destrcuted. The triumph arch was probably extended when the vault was built.

 

 

 

Hammer kirke, foto gb.

The small church is marked by inventory from the 1800s: pews from 1827 altarpiece from 1870 and pulpit from 1892. 

 

The altarpiece is from the 1870s - in the middle field is a copy of  Thorvaldsen's Christ-figure. The two painted figures are David with the harp and Moses with the tablets of the Law, painted after two statues in Vor Frue Kirke in Copenhagen. The altarpiece was repaired in 1963.

 

Altar rails from 1899 in cast iron and polished beech wood. Pews from ab. 1857. Gallery in connection to organ. 

 

The pulpit is a gift  to the church from Mads Christensen and Peder Christian Madsen in 1892,  and it replaced an earlier pulpit from 1735. The pulpit has carved biblical reliefs made by a local carver N. Fjeldskov  The sounding board is the same work as the pulpit  The entrance to the pulpit is a bricked staircase. 

 

The Romanesque font is probably the original from the building of the church . It has a greyish basin and a reddish foot. The baptismal dish in brass is from the beginning of the 1900s. The jar in brass is from 1863.

 

Silver chalice and disc from 1758 made by J.N. Brosbøll, Vejle. Altar candelabres in brass from the beginning of the 1600s. Menorah candelabre from 1950s. Two chandeliers ab. 1925 (Renaissance-copies). Church ship "Marie" from ab. 1953, a threemaster without sails but with Dannebrog.

 

the beginning of Gudenaa, near Hammer church, foto gb

Three carved figures have been kept from the original altarpiece from the 1400s: A Throne of Grace and Maria Magdalena with the ointment jar and Barbara with the tower.   Besides these three figures is kept a wooden figure of the Virgin Mary from 1520. The child is missing.

 

The bell is from 1829 cast by Meilstrup in Randers, it was originally meant for Tørring church and came to Hammer church ab. 1910.

In a cupboard in the choir were since 1877 an Epee, spurs and a coffin plate from Ditlev Trappaud who was konferensråd and amtmand over Dronningborg, Silkeborg and Mariager Amt and the owner of Tvillum. A long inscription tells about him and the family's sorrow by his death.  Trappaud was also the owner of Hammergård. He died at Tvillum 22 August 1768.

 The church yard is surrounded by stone dikes. The bell hangs in a bell frame at the western gable. 

 Source: National Museum, København; Folkekirken, Tørring og Hammer sogne.

Øster Hornum church/ Øster Hornum kirke , Himmerland

Øster Hornum kirke, 10 km south of Nibe.(Google earth)

The parish church in Øster Hornum is one of the big churches from the early Middle Ages. It was built in the middle of the 1100 and probably inaugurated in 1172. It is situated high in the landscape over the old village Øster Hornum which was once a herredsby  (district town)

The large Romanesque church in granite ashlars consists of apse, choir and nave from the first building and a tower from the 1200s. The tower was rebuilt ab. 1770, and the medieval details were destroyed,among those a fine gallery with pillars, which is traceable in the bottom room of the tower.

The Romanesque granite font is the finest inventory in the church. The magnificent font is from the building period, a "Fons Vitae" with lions and other creatures in high relief.  A Latin inscription is carved along the edge of the font from Davids psalms " I am the source of life - and in your light we see the light".

The choir arch with portal pillars is a rest of the magnate church's  Romanesque interior.  From medieval inventory are two very pretty carved oakwood-figures, an unidentified bishop and  Maria with baby Jesus. Both figures are from the 1200s. The choir arch crucifix with Evangelist medaljons in four corners is Gothic, from ab. 1300. The pulpit from 1604 is also one of the attractions of the church. The altarpiece is probably from the late 1500s, the pulpit, made in Aalborg, is dated 1604.
Altar candelabres from the 1500s.





Link , where you can find photos from the church: 

http://www.korttilkirken.dk/kirkerOE/oehornum.htm





source: Danmarks Kirker Niels Peter Stilling, 2000, Øster Hornum kirke

Sjørring church/ Sjørring kirke, Hundborg herred, Thisted amt.

Sjørring church was probably built by the king, which explains its special position in the district of Thy. Its  important connection  is the big castle bank Sjørring Volde close by, one of the biggest and strangest castle banks  in Denmark  - the rests of a strong medieval royal castle. The old name "Syrændæ" is mentioned as an estate of the Crown in Valdemars Jordebog. The castle was from the 1000s - and there was probably a wooden church in Sjørring at the same time. The present Romanesque church has replaced the wooden church in the 1100s.

In about 1630 and 1666 the church was still owned by the Crown, but in April 1699 it was deeded to fru Cornelia Bickers of Vestervig. It was later owned by the family Steenstrup from 1775. In April 1918 it was transferred to freehold.

The pretty Romanesque church lies upon a hillside about 300 meters northeast of Sjørring Volde. The terrain falls down from the building from all sides. The church was one of Thy's most esteemed churches, and the names of the hills nearby, like Galgehøj and Tingbakken indicate that the Thing of Hundborg Herred was held here.

Sjørring church/wikipedia

Sjørring church is the biggest and richest decorated church in Hundborg Herred, but it is strongly marked by restorations in 1875 and 1890. The church has Romanesque apse, choir and nave, all built in pretty carved ashlars upon a superbly done double plinth. Two very pretty pillar portals were partly renewed in 1875 and 1890, but they are still the only pillar portals in Thy. At the bricked-up south door stands a magnificent portal with double free-standing columns with richly profiled bases and capitals with animal- and flower decorations. The north portal in the porch has two columns formed as wooden columns, probably meant to be copies from the original wooden church.

In the south wall of the choir is a 98cm broad priest-door with a strange lintel. The north window of the choir is the best preserved of the original windows. In the north wall of the nave are three original windows. The windows have monolith lintels. There are several ashlars on the wall with stone mason-fields, also on the walls inside. The church room has flat, beamed ceilings and whitewashed walls, the triumph wall stands with the original  pretty ashlars, side altar niches and corbels. Some Romanesque frescoes were discovered in 1890, and some in1928 but no frescoes have been restored.

interior/gb

About 1500 a late Gothic tower and porch were built. The tower was demolished before 1769, in which year the church was mentioned as towerless ("kullet"). The present tower was built in 1929. At the building of the new tower the rests of a spiral staircase was found. The porch is built in yellow bricks, it has a cross vault. Both tower and porch are whitewashed. The roof of the porch is tiled, the rest of the church has lead roof.








The church yard is surrounded by granite boulder dikes. In the 1870s was still a groove called Pestkulen (the plague pit), which was said to origin from the time of the Black Death. This place was avoided and not used as a burial site.

Inventory.

Romanesque font/gb

The altarpiece is late Renaissance from 1640 with profiled frames and a middle field flanked by Corinthic pillars, in the middle field a dark double-painting from the same time. The pulpit has biblical reliefs. It is dated 1639. The panels in the choir are the original organ-gallery from the beginning of the 1600s. The panels were placed here after the building of the tower in 1929. The Romanesque granite font is a typical Thybo-font in two parts with a slightly profiled plinth and a round-stick at the foot of the basin. A beautiful high Gothic crucifix is from about 1350.  Silver chalice from 1739 by Jens Kjeldsen Sommerfeldt in Aalborg; sygekalk (silver chalice for the sick) from 1775 by P. Knudsen Lund, Aalborg;  silver candelabres from 1608. 








Two medieval wooden figures in Sjørring church. .
The female figure is late Gothic It might origin from an earlier altarpiece. It reminds about a figure in a Gothic altar cupboard in Hillerslev church. In a photo from Danmarks Kirker from 1936 it is seen that the figures have been placed together with the crucifix in the church, as if they were Mary and John. The male figure is probably carved by another carver. It has a rougher face and very big hands, but at the same time it has been carved in order to be similar to the female figure. Maybe the female figure was used at the side of the crucifix after the reformation, and then they needed a figure of John, and a new was carved.



                                                          

Bishop's Grave/gb

The Bishop's Grave.
The socalled Bishop's Grave south of the apse consists of three  granite memorials. It is one of Denmarks most potent Romanesque grave memorials, dated to the end of the 1100s. It is probably only the middle stone which lies in its original place. Upon the north prism stone is a pretty carved relief of a bishop's figure, but although it is called a bishop's grave it is proably not the burial of a bishop at all, but it is sooner a figure of Sct Nicolas of Myra.  On the opposite is another pretty stone with a high relief of an angel, while the other  prism stone has no reliefs, but by both stones stand typical gable stones with Romanesque crosses in high relief.

Several traditions are connected to this burial place. According to a legend it is the grave of an English bishop who was ship-wrecked at the west coast of Jutland. Another tradition says that bishop Mogens of Vestervig was buried here after he in vain had fought for bringing his bishopric to Thy. The third theory is that it was the first bishop of Børglum, Sølves/Silvester's grave.

Sjørring Volde left, the church right/ Google Earth

Sjørring Volde
In connection to a visit in the church it is a good idea to visit the castle bank Sjørring Volde.  From the church yard is a fine view across the magnificent landscape, which was a waterway in the Middle Ages. The royal castle bank by the lake shore was surrounded by water on all four sides and with the king's road through Thy east of the plan. The big fortification is a so-called Motte-Bailey plan, consisting of a front castle with the civil residenses, and behind double moats the fortification itself, which was a wooden tower upon a steep earth bank. The type is known already from the 1000s, shown on the Bayeux tapestry. 


Source: Danmarks Kirker Thisted amt ; Politikens bog om Danmarks Kirker, Niels Peter Stilling 2000.
 

Janderup church / Janderup kirke, Vester Horne herred, Ribe amt.

   
Janderup Church, ab. 10 km west of Varde
Janderup sogn, Vester Horne herred, Ribe amt.

The whitewashed church in Janderup has a desolate place at Varde Å. (river). It is a large village church with a choir and with an added sacristy, nave and tower to the west.  The church had earlier two porches; both are removed, and the tower room now functions as a hall with a new entrance in the north wall. The earliest Romanesque sections, the choir and nave, are mostly granite, above this tufa, upon a profiled double plinth.  Several Romanesque windows are kept, all walled-in. Both doors of the nave are walled-in with smooth frames. In the north door is an old door wing with a Gothic marked furniture. The additions are from the late Middle Ages and built in monk bricks: a cross-vaulted sacristy to the north and a large tower to the west. The inside is over-vaulted with one bay in the choir and three bays octagonal rib-vaults in the nave, and the Romanesque choir-arch  is kept with finely profiled kragsten.  A frescoe decoration from the beginning of the 1500s was brought to light in 1936.

Upon the bricked communion table with a Renaissance front panel from the end of the 1500s stands a large altar piece, given in 1645 by slotsskriver at Riberhus and owner of  St. Hebo, Peder Byrgesen and wife, whose carved names are on the side wings. At the entrance to the sacristy is an old door wing with 1700s'
paintings. In the sacristy is an old well-kept confessional from ab. 1730 with kneeler and baluster-rail. Rests of medieval wooden sculptures from the disappeared side altars are now in the door-niches of the nave: a Madonna from 1532 and a contemporary bishop-figure. Romanesque granite font, above this a carved sounding board (earlier shown year 1652). Above the choir arch a crucifix from the 1300s. The parish clerk stool has a carved year 1603. The pulpit is a rich Renaissance-work from ab. 1600 with Corinthic baluster-pillars and 1700s' paintings and a contemporary sounding board.  The pews have gables in early Renaissance, upon the upper gables an inscription that these  "skamler" (stools) were bought in 1575 by Simon Christensen of St. Hebo. A Rococo-organ is given in 1774 by Mads Rygaard of St. Hebo, placed upon a gallery with painted apostle-figures in the fields.  A chandelier in the choir was given by the above mentioned  Simon Christensen; besides two  newer chandeliers given in 1911. Church ship: war ship "De Ammeral", given by parish priest Niels Sehested 1776. In the tower room several head-stones from 1600s and 1700s. Upon the church yard a grave with  Jens Jensen of Janderup, (+ 1647), 126 years of age! North of the church yard an old red brick-building, named  "Kirkehuset". (The Church House)  


Store Hebo was a freeholders-farm, it belonged to Anders Nielsen (+ 1602), his widow Marine (+ 1629) and son Niels Andersen in Varde, whose widow Anne Nielsdatter died 1659. Their son Niels Nielsen of St.H. (+ 1667) was married to Lisbeth Pedersdatter Hebo (+ 1703), who in 1686 conveyed her inheritance-rights  of the farm to her son-in-law Hans Nielsen Kjær (+ 1709), who was priest in Ål. (parish) In 1718 the farm belonged to Simon Christensen (+ 1732), whose widow Mette Marie Joensdatter 1733 married Poul Borreby (later priest in  Gudum, + 1748). In the exchange after him in 1749 the farm was taken over by his widow Gertrud Marie Madsdatter, who the same year was married to I.J. Jelstrup (later of Kokkedal). In 1778 it belonged to  Mads Rygaard (+ 1791), whose widow in 1792 married  fuldmægtig at Hesselmed, Byrge Qvist, after whose death in 1825 it came to his son-in-law J.Chr. Westesen  (+ 1841). Later owners: Thøger R. Teilmann, H.F.Ulriksen.

The brick-built white-washed main building from 1798 is a fine and well-kept witness of the building traditions of West Jutland. 

Janderup was in the old times a place of disembarkation for the town of Varde, since the river was not navigable that far up. Varde town had in 1640 from the Crown first refusal on a farm at the church (later the inn). In 1680 was a custom house for a short time at Janderup. Although the shipping place was officially abandoned in 1692, it was used up till the late 1800s. At the inn ("Skipperhuset") was a ferry across Varde Å-river until 1910. In the 1600s. had (acc. to. Pont. Atlas) the merchant ships from Varde their winter place at Janderup church.

In Hyllerslev Enge at Varde Å-river lies a castle bank Elkærhøj, an oblong bank, surrounded by a moat and a outer dam, which to the south and southeast broadens into large flat areas, probably a front-castle. Outside seems to have been another moat. In the late 1800s. were at the castle bank found rests of a timbered building.

In the parish was the farm Vig (1486 Wiigh, 1487 Wyghe, 1606 Wieg.) Chrf. Hvas of Hennegård founded in 1639 the main farm Søviggård in Ovtrup parish by this and Søgård in Ovtrup parish.

Listed prehistorics: 24 hills. Large, but damaged by dikes and ditches is a hill north of Nr. Hebo.
Destroyed or demolished: 79 hills; large groups were at Janderup hede, Kærup hede and north of St. Hebo. Already Pont. Atlas mentioned that at an excavation of the hills in the parish were found stone axes, stone knives and bronze-rings.

Names in the Middle Ages and 1600s.:
Janderup (1295 Jamthorp); Hyllerslev (1391 Hyllesløøf); Kærup (1471 Keerorpp, Keerurp); Strudvad (1606 Struduad); Bandsbjerg (1404 Bansberig), Sdr. Hebo (1638 Sønder Hebo), Nr. Hebo (1638 Nør Hebo); Grydvad Ml. (1606 Gryduad Mølle);  St. Hebo (1503 Hiebo, 1664 Stoer Hieeboe).

Source: Trap Danmark, Ribe amt 1965.
photo Janderup kirke 2003: grethe bachmann

Billum church / Billum kirke, Vester Horne herred, Ribe amt.

Billum church, ab.10 km west of Varde
Billum sogn, Vester Horne herred, Ribe amt.
 
The white-chalked Billum church with leaden roof has a richly furnished apse, choir and nave and a later added sacristy, porch and tower. It was in its original look a fine example of the Ribe-district's tufa-stone churches.  The Romanesque core, which is the apse, the choir and the nave, is built upon a granite-plinth, while the tufa-walls are parted in reliefs and round-arch friezes, but they were somewhat renewed with bricks in a restore in 1880. A walled-in window is above the door of the sacristy, all other windows in Romanesque shape seem to be placed in their original place, but they have all been re-newed. Both doors of the nave are kept, the north door is walled-in, the south door is still in use. The added buildings are all from the late Middle Ages and built in monk bricks. The sacristy has a cross-vault, the tower has smooth gables, while the bottom tower room has a cross-vault and opens to the nave in a high, narrow arcade. The inside of the church is unusually high, it has beamed ceilings in choir and nave, while the apse has a half-cupola vault - the choir was earlier cross-vaulted. The Romanesque choir arch is preserved with profiled kragbånd.


 





The communion table is built in tufa-stone, upon this lies a granite-plate with a reliquary. The altar piece is a Renaissance-carved work, undoubtedly from the beginning of the 1600s, built into one large piece, divided into three parts with Tuscany pillars, sidewings and a top-piece, divided into two parts. In the fields are placed the original paintings (in 1965) . A Romanesque granite font and a south German baptismal bowl from ab. 1575. The pulpit, carved year 1634, is decorated with Ionian pillars as a frame around arcade-fields with relief-carved images of the four Evangelists. At one of the gables of the pews is carved "Elin Gødis 1581". The church owns a medieval wooden sculpture. Furthermore rests of a Mary-altar. In the Mary-figure was in 1918 found 19 coins from Chr. II's and king Hans' rule - they are now in the National Museum. Finally a late medival altar cupboard. In the sacristy a priest- or confessional-stool, similar to the stool in Janderup church and a small series pastorum 1750. The bell with minuskel-inscription is from 1432, cast by master Peter Jensøn on request of the parish priest hr. Jacob. In a restore in 1956 all the inventory was cleansed and painted, and the tower was face-walled. In 1954 was brought to light a medieval painted frieze with coat of arms.




Billumgård was in 1580 a noble-farm, which belonged to Knud Henriksen. In 1635 Otte Kruse's widow fru Sophie Staverskov exchanged it to Ribe chapter. In 1722 the king conveyed it to Peder Endorph at Hennegård.

In Kelst plantation is seen a cross of turf in the heather, the cross-arms are 4,7 m long and 1,6 m broad, here was once a church, Højbjerg church; a lime-tree is plant in the middle of the cross.
In Klokkepyt north of Billum was Billum church bell said to be cast.

In Billum church were in 1954-55 found 88 coins spread, of which 39 Danish coins from Valdemar II till Frederik VIII.

In a digging at a farm in Tarp were in 1818 found 22, mostly German speciedalers, and many little coins (last year 1642).

Listed prehistorics: 6 hills, of which 4 in a group at Billum heath north of the village.
Destroyed or demolished: 16 hills.

A small tuft burial-site from Celtic Iron Age is known from the parish.

Names from the Middle Ages and 1600s:
Billum (1324 Bælium) ; Tarp (1342 Belium thorp, 1486 Tarp, 1494 Torp); Hannevang (1291 Hanærwangh); Billumgård (1638 Billomgaard); Kærgård (1661 Wed Kier, 1688 Kiern boell).

Source: Trap Danmark, Ribe amt, 1965. 
photo Billum church 2003: grethe bachmann