Valsgård church / Valsgård kirke, Hindsted herred, Aalborg amt.

Valsgård Church, 5 km north of Hobro
Valsgård sogn, Hindsted herred, Aalborg amt.

The church has a Romanesque choir and nave, probably the tower is late Gothic and the porch is from the end of the 1800s. The Romanesque building is in granite ashlars. The walled-in north door has a cross-marked thympanum while the south door which is still in use has a smooth thympanum. The curved choir arch is preserved with various profiled kragsten - and both choir and nave has a beamed ceiling.The tower has gone through a thorough restoration and is now without old details. The bottom room is not opened to the nave. The porch is probably from the restoration of the tower, in 1885.

The altar piece is a modern oakwood triptychon with a painting by Rud-Petersen 1937-38: "Jesus heals the blind". Late Gothic ore candelabres with heavy ring decorated handles. The granite font is new or it is very strongly broken up. A fine late Gothic choir arch crucifix, closely related to the crucifix in Hørby Church west of Hobro. The pulpit is a simple joinery with curved corner pillars. Below the modern ornaments are vaguely seen paintings from the 1700s.

A single wooden relief from ab. 1600 of "Maria Magdalene at the Cross" is in the church wall. In the choir is a mighty gravestone with four parallel inscriptions for Peder Ollufsøn +1663; Maren Ibsdatter + 1664; Olluf Pedersøn + 16.. ; and Anne Nielsdatter, + 16.. . The stone is put up by Olluf Pedersøn. The church bell is from 1636.


Valsgård Bæk (Brook)

Names in the Middle Ages and 1600s:
Valsgård (1461 Walsgard); Redsø (1461 Ræsæ, Ræso Skøw); Ulstrup (1499 Wolstrop); Tofte
(1611 Tofft); Hjerritsdal (1611 Hieredzdall); Røkkendal (1480 Røkkendaal); Skovbo (*1482 Skaubo, 1487 Skowbo); Søndergårde (1611 Søndergaardtt); Staverslund (1611 Staffeslunndt); Frisdal (1478 Friisdaal); Nederkarls (1461 Karlæ skow, 1506 Nederkarllæ); Hjeds (1563 Hiedtz, 1688 Hiedtzegaard); Bramslev (1478 Bramsløff,-leff, Bremsløff); Nakkedal (1478 Nakkedaal); Lille Skovsgård (1611 Sckoffsgaardtt); Bodalskrog (1611 Boedelskrog).

A farm/manor Skovbo was since 1406 mostly in the Hørby family. In 1478 a farm/manor Nakkedal was inherited by Jens and Mogens Thomsen (Seefeld) from their father hr. Thomes Mogensen (Seefeld) of Dalsgård. A farm/manor Tofte was by Laurids Ebbesen (Udsen) exchanged in 1634 to grev Valdemar Christian. In Hjerritsdal is a water-mill (out of use). It is listed in class B.

At Valsgårds Bæk (Brook) west of Frisdal is a vague site of "Frisdal slot" , it is now a downploughed embankment with wall gravel and chalk. To the south are traces of a low bank the west rests of another bank. West of the brook are some rests of banks and mabybe house sites. 100 m west of the brook is a spidsgrav (special grave) crossing a steep hill. Here is a stone with an inscription upon ashlars . Excavations in 1946 by Hobro Museum.

Hobro Museum

Legend:
A legend says that the sons of the owners of Frisdal slot once were robbed in the big forest surrounding the estate. When the 3 daughters from the castle were on their way to Oplev Church they were raped in Kirkedalen ( Church Valley) and killed by robbers - at the place sprung then three frøkenkilder (maiden's wells). When the robbers hide-out was discovered it showed that the main villain was a brother of the murdered girls. As propitiatory sacrifice the parents let build a church in Valsgård.

Listed prehistorics: 3 long barrows, one by Ulstrupgård has a cover stone above the chamber; a dolmen chamber at Frisdal is 4 carrier stones with one cover stone. It once belonged to a 70 m long barrow. Besides is a stone cist, a long hill and 41 grave hills of which several are large. Ved Krogen 5 hills; at Bramslev 2; at Røkkendal 3 (one is Vandhøj) and at Redsø 1. Especially along the fjord (Mariager Fjord)are many hills.
Demolished or destroyed: one round dolmen and 51 hills.

An Iron Age settlement noted at Tofte.

Source: Trap Danmark, Aalborg amt, 1961.


photo Valsgård kirke /Valsgård Bæk 2003 + 2005: grethe bachmann

Ullits church / Ullits kirke, Gislum herred, Aalborg amt.

Ullits Church, 25 km north of Viborg
Ullits sogn, Gislum herred, Aalborg amt.

Ullits Church is placed high upon a hill in the village with pretty dikes winding up and down hill around the church yard. It has a Romanesque choir and nave in granite ashlars, a late Gothic western tower in re-used granite ashlars, boulder and monk bricks and a porch from 1872 to the north. The bricked-up east window of the choir is original, or else the walls are very re-worked in the late Middle Ages, when the nave was heightened and the narrow choir arch and the doors of the nave were re-walled in monk bricks. At present the north door has been re-changed again and the south door is bricked-up, and here in the bricks is a small gruttesten (grindstone?) from prehistoric time, which in the Catholic period might have been used as an aspersorium. According to Pontoppidan's Atlas the heavy white-washed tower was lowered in 1745, caused by the church-owner Kammerherre Lüttichau of Lerkenfeld and it has now a pyramid roof. The tower room is connected to the nave in a broad round arched arcade. The white-washed porch is built in small bricks. Upon the walls of the tower room was in 1956 brought to light frescoes from the reformation period.

An altar piece from the beginning of the 1600s with free-pillars and inscriptions-fields. A Romanesque granite font with lion figures in high relief. A baptismal bowl in Nürnberg work from ab. 1550. The pulpit - with an entrance via the triumph arch - has arcade fields with winding bands and the carved year 1599. The largest part of the pews - both gables, backs and partly the seats - origin from the 1600s, several gables have the year 1618 and 1632, upon the rest of the gables are presently painted F C S 1354(!) The church bell without inscription hangs in a glug (opening) in the north side of the tower. Its a type from the 1300s.


Ullits, grave hill

Names in the Middle Ages:
Ullits (* 1461 Vlles, 1464 Wlles); Søkbæk (* 1461 Syckebeck, 1468 Søtbek, 1484 Sykbeck).

Listed prehistorics: 9 hills, of which one rather large at Søkbækgård.
Demolished or destroyed: 24 hills.

Source: Trap Danmark, Aalborg amt, 1961.


photo Ullits kirke 9. April 2009: grethe bachmann

Torup church / Torup kirke, Hellum herred, Aalborg amt.

Torup Church, 12 km northwest of Hadsund
Torup sogn, Hellum herred, Aalborg amt

The high placed solitary situated church in Torup, (which was inaugurated to St. Martin of Tours), has a Romanesque choir and nave, a late Gothic tower and a porch from ab. 1900. The Romanesque building is in granite ashlars; the north door is preserved and in use, while the south door has disappeared when the walls were re-newed. In the church are two original windows, one open to the north and one walled to the east. Inside the round choir arch is preserved. In choir and nave was in the late Gothic period built a cross vault, and the small tower was an addition built in re-used ashlars and yellow monk bricks. The bottom room is not connected to the church, but is used as a tool room.

The Communion table in granite ashlars has a reliquary. The altar piece is "forsinket" (belated) high Renaissance , dated 1641 with the coat of arms of Margrethe Sandberg. In the middle field is a new cross . The altarpiece was renovated together with the Pulpit in 1722 by Susanne Kaas. The pulpit is from the same time as the altarpiece. A Romanesque granite font with a standing lion, its tail is swinging around the basin, which is also decorated with palm leaves.



Names in the Middle Ages:
Torup (* 1410 Torup, Torrup); Hellum (* 1453 Hellum, 1463 Hillum); Asp ( * 1493 Asph, 1494 Aspemarck); Tulsted (* 1493 Tulsted, 1494 Twelstorp, 1507 Tolsted); Frægelund ( * 1502 Fregelund).

Tulsted estate was in 1494 a farm belonging to the Crown. In 1588 it was endowed to Knud Brahe, but the same year Christoffer Kruse was the owner (and his sons Gabriel, Thomas and Enevold) In 1626 he sold T. to Sofie Sandberg, + 1649, widow after Enevold Kruse. Owners/Families: Sandberg, Kaas (Sparre-Kaas), Rosenheim, Gyldenlöve, Hvass, Brockdorff etc. Later sold to Sorø Akademi.

At Kapelbakke southeast of Torup is the site of a Romanesque church. Nave 7x10 m, choir 5x7m. The dike is visible almost all the way round. The church is mentioned in documents from 1494.

Vestergård in Hellum was pawned by the Crown in 1567 to Axel Juul of Villestrup.

The farm Frægelund was in 1502 exchanged to Niels Friis by Søren Munk (Vinranke-Munk) of Komdrup. Frægelund was earlier named Kratgård.

A farm Søndergård in Hellum (* 1494 Sondergortz gordsted) exchanged 1494 to the Viborg bishop Niels Glob.

Listed prehistorics: 8 hills, 2 impressive Baunehøje at Torup and Hellum.
Demolished or destroyed: 15 hills.

At Tulsted a large finding from Bronze Age: 3 necklaces, 2 broches, fragments of bracelets etc.


Madum Sø

The largest part of Madum sø is in Torup parish. Madum sø is a karstlake; the precipitation has dissolved the chalk causing an underground cavity where the loft collapsed. The lake is a hole in the earth filled with water, and it has no connections from either brooks or above ground outlets. The bilge water stands so high that the sinking of the earth has become a lake. Madum Sø is one of the cleanest lakes in Denmark, a socalled Lobelia-lake.

Source: Trap Danmark, Aalborg amt, 1961.


photo Torup kirke 2004: grethe bachmann

Sønder Kongerslev church / Sønder Kongerslev kirke and Kongstedlund, Hellum herred, Aalborg amt.

Sønder Kongerslev Church, 15 km southeast of Aalborg
Sønder Kongerslev sogn, Hellum herred, Aalborg amt.

Sønder Kongerslev Church has a Romanesque choir and nave; an octagonal tower to the west and a porch to the north are both from early Renaissance period. The Romanesque building is in granite ashlars. All original details have disappeared in a rebuilding in the early Renaissance period. Three octagonal cross-vaults of late Gothic character were built in the nave, while the choir got a star vault and the choir arch was extended. An octagonal late Gothic tower was added to the west, the bottom of the tower is in granite ashlars, while the top is in monk bricks. Its bottom room with an octagonal cupola-vault opens to the nave in a round arch. The porch is built in monk bricks, but without details. The Renaissance re-build was probably influenced by the great building work in Astrup Church and probably from ab. 1550.

The altar piece is a fine Renaissance work from 1597, given by Niels Juul and Anne Stygge and renovated 1743 by Niels Jensen Thyboe. A Romanesque granite font. A south German baptismal bowl from ab. 1575. The pulpit from 1597 given by Niels Juul and Anne Stygge. Chandelier 1724. Church bell from 1400s with a similar inscription like a lesser bell in Vestervig Church.


Kongstedlund (before ab. 1550 Kongeslevlund) was possibly owned by the families Munk and Hvide in the 1300s and the beginning of the 14oos, but the first of certainty is in 1469, when Joachim Bjørnsen's son hr. Anders Jacobsen Bjørn, + 1490, had witness of the thing for his right to the estate, and his son's son Henrik Bjørnsen Bjørn is the owner in 1538. After his death in 1540 his sister's sons Jens Kaas (Sparre-Kaas), + 1578, and kansler Niels Kaas , + 1594, and his half-siblings Christoffer, Iver and Kirsten Lunge Dyre had part in K. The last mentioned was married to Axel Juul of Villestrup, + 1577, whose son Niels Juul, + 1600, from ab. 1590 was the sole owner of K. His son Axel Juul sold in 1637 Kongstedlund to Iver Krabbe of Østergård and Albæk, + 1641, whose widow Dorte Juul brought it to her second husband Erik Høeg Banner, + 1673. Various owners/families. In 1922 hofjægermester Jørgen Castenskiold.

The main building is listed in class A ; it is surrounded by broad and deep moats. The impressive western wing, built by Niels Juul, is in two storeys above vaulted cellars. It is a Renaissance house in monkbricks upon a plinth in grante ashlars. The now white-washed walls were probably rich decorated once. The richly carved sandstoneportal is put up by Iver Krabbe in 1640. The main building is restored inside and furnished with rich inventory. Renaissance furniture from Kongstedlund exhibited at Aalborg Museum.

Names in the Middle Ages and 1600s:
Sønder Kongerslev (* 1469 Synder Kongeslev, 1477 Sønder Kongsløff); Kongstedlund ( * 1469 Kongeslevlund, 1477 Kongsløfflundh, 1664 Kongsted lund); Kællingbjerggård ( * 1474 Kiellingbierg, 1477 Kælinghbergh).

In Kongstedlund kær, under 2 m peat, was found a medieval road and a wooden bridge across Haslevgård Aa, excavated by Aalborg Museum in 1947.

Listed prehistorics: East of the village is the long dolmen Store Monshøj, 65 m long, with large edge stones and a small pentagonal passage-grave chamber, and Lille Monshøj, a passage-grave with chamber of 12 bearing stones (no cover stone). Furthermore a longhill and 16 hills, of which the longhill and 5 hills form a pretty group upon the high terrain south of the village. At Kongstedlund is Krashøj and a stone circle at the edge of Vildmosen.
Demolished or destroyed: a round dolmen and 15 hills; there was a stone grave from early Roman period at Kællingbjerggård.

Source: Trap Danmark, Aalborg amt, 1961.
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Kongstedlund belongs to one of the great main manors from the 16th century in Himmerland, but its history goes much longer back in time. According to legend it was established by an old Danish pirate king who lived at the farm and was buried in the hill Store Mogens (Store Monshøj), which is situated west of Sønder Kongerslev By (village). If Kongstedlund really was a pirate's castle is not to prove, but it is sure that the building place was chosen from defensive reasons. The farm/castle was established by a chief or a magnate who wasn't a part of the village-community. Its original name was Kongeslevlund. The first known owner was hr. Anders Jacobsen Bjørn, who in 1469 took witness of the Thing that " it was (his maternal grandfather) hr. Anders Ovesen Bjørn's rightful inheritance from his mother Marie Oves." This Marie Oves was Anders Jacobsen great-grandmother, married to hr. Ove Stigsen Hvide, and with him we are back in the 1400th century.

The western main wing was built in 1592 by hr. Niels Juul, whose father in 1542 built the nearby manor Villestrup in Himmerland. Kongstedlund is now white-washed, but it was undoubtedly decorated and with raw red stones upon a heavy carved granite plinth. The Renaissance house is built above a vaulted cellar from the earlier manor. The finest sight of Kongstedlund is the sandstoneportal on the main wing . The initials "IK/DI" refer to Iver Krabbe and Dorte Juul who put it up in 1640.

Source: Danske herregårde, bd. 11, 1966; Danmarks slotte og herregårde , Niels Peter Stilling, 1998.


photo Sønder Kongerslev kirke /Kongstedlund 2003: grethe bachmann

Sønderholm church / Sønderholm kirke, Hornum herred, Aalborg amt.

Sønderholm Church, 8 km east of Nibe
Sønderholm sogn, Hornum herred, Aalborg amt.

Saint's grave from a Communion table




The nave, choir and apse of Sønderholm Church is Romanesque, built in granite ashlars . A Romanesque window is preserved in each side of the nave. The north door is preserved and on the south door's place is an ashlar with a hollow, probably a saint's grave from an ealier Communion table. The choir arch with profiled kragbånd (oblong relief stones) is preserved. The choir and nave have large octagonal Gothic vaults and a similar vault is built in the apse.The tower in granite ashlars and yellow monk bricks is an addition from the Gothic period. On the west side has it two large supporting pillars of which one is a staircase-house. High upon the gable is the year 1769. The tower room was in the 1700s vaulted and at the same time it became a grave chapel. Surrounding the broad tower arch was in 1735 built a portal with a cast iron grating.

The porch is probably from the same period as the tower and in similar materials , the chapel in the north side of the choir was probably built in 1685, but might be earlier, it is built in monk bricks and a few ashlars , the inside is vaulted. another lesser addition in small bricks is probably from the 1700s and was at that time porch for the master and mistress at Restrup Manor. (it is now a a tool shed). The Romanesque parts of the church are in blank ashlar-walls with a lead roof, the additions are white-washed and with tiled roof. The church was restored in 1881-83 and in a lesser restoration 1943-45.

The choir has rich frescoes from the Renaissance period, in the vault are mainly pictures from the old Testament and a row of 32 coat of arms, representing Gabriel Gyldenstierne and his wife Kirsten Friis' ancestors, everything paid in 1556 by Kirsten Friis. The frescoes were restored in 1888 and in 1940. The triptychon altar piece is Lutheranian from the end of the 1500s with paintings from the 1700s. It was repaired in 1945. The Romanesque granite font has a smooth basin . The pulpit is from ab. 1550 with biblical reliefs and the coat of arms of Gabriel Gyldenstierne and Kirsten Friis , it was repaired in 1945. The pews are from 1881.




Upon the iron bound entrance door is an interesting Romanesque bronze plate with animal figures from the Viking Period. (The lock might come from a viking house, or it might be from the first wooden church in Sønderholm). One church bell is cast in 1600 for Hornum Church by Reinholdt Benninck in Lübeck , the other is recast by Baltzer Melchior in 1665. In front of the entrance to the chapel is a wooden portal with the coat of arms for the Lindenov-family. In the chapel are four coffins with the bodies of admiral Christoffer Lindenov, + 1679; Kommerceråd Christian Christoffersen Lindenov, + 1692 ; Kaptajn Oluf Thott, + 1752, and his wife Anna Lindenov, + 1760. Upon the walls in the chapel is an epitaph for admiral Christoffer Lindenov and a wooden table with an inscription about the inauguration of the chapel, an epitaph for Hannibal Gyldenstierne and a strange painting of the genealogical tree of the Thott-family , probably placed there on the occassion of Oluf Thott's funeral.

In the tower room are two large marble sarcophagi with the bodies of generalløjtnant Chr. Fr. Levetzau, +1756 and his first wife Christence Lindenov Rantzau, +1734. There are three impressive gravestone with portrait figures of 1) Gabriel Gyldenstierne, + 1555, and wife Kirsten Friis, + 1565, the stone with a broad bronzeplate is now placed in the wall of the choir. 2) Hannibal Gyldenstierne, +1608, and wife Helvig Kaas, upon the wall of the nave. 3) Jep Friis of Lyngholm, + 1547, and wife Helvig Høgsdatter, + 1544, the stone was given by the son in law Gabriel Gyldenstierne, it is now in the north wall of the nave. In the church is buried the lady Christence Kruckow who in 1621 was executed for witchcraft. She was the founder of "Den halshuggede Jomfrus Legat". (The grant of the beheaded lady. )


Klitgård, fishing village northwest of Sønderholm

Names in the Middle Ages and 1600s:
Sønderholm * 1292 Synderhollm); Nyrup (* 1440 Nyrup); Tostrup (1477 Thostrvp); St. Restrup (* 1425 Restrup, 1456 Reffstorp); Godrim (1683 Goerum, Godrim).

Store Restrup Manor
Store Restrup is an old main farm, in 1477 it belonged according to a thing-witness "fra Arilds tid" (from ancient times ) to the family Gyldenstierne. As early as 1314 Niels Eriksen Gyldenstierne owned Restrup and in 1426 it belonged to rigsråd Henrik Knudsen Gyldenstierne. After his death in 1456 it was inherited from father to son: rigsråd Knud Henriksen Gyldenstierne, + 1467; rigsråd Henrik Knudsen Gyldenstierne, +1517 , and then to his widow Karen Bille until 1530; Gabriel Gyldenstierne, +1555, and then his widow Kirsten Friiis (of Haraldskær) who owned it until her death in 1565. 1569 Restrup was shared by Gabriel's brother Mogens Gyldenstierne, Knud Gyldenstierne's widow Jytte Podebusk and Christoffer Gyldenstierne's widow Anne Parsberg. In 1608 the part-owner was Mogens Gyldenstierne's son Hannibal Gyldenstierne , + 1608, whose widow Helvig Kaas (Sparre-Kaas) kept his part until her death . Restrup was later in the ownership of various families like Lindenov, Parsberg, Marsvin, Levetzau etc. In the 1900s it was an education center for farmers.

The main building was built in 1723 by Fr. Levetzau. It is a white-washed building in simple Baroque style, with three wings and an open yard to the east. A walled bridge leads across old rests of old moats. In the south wing is the great hall , equipped in 1782, later it became the feast hall of the farmer's high school. In the west wing's southern room are English tapestry with hunting scenes from ab. 1820. In the park are rests from a Baroque garden.

Northeast of Store Restrup, close to the parish border by Frejlev parish was a large water mill, which in 1789 was destroyed by a violent thaw. The site of the house was examined and it showed rests of a half timbered building, a large baking oven and a big all-night burner in red tiles.



Listed prehistorics:On the top af a range of hills northeast of Sønderholm is an impressive long dolmen Troldkirken, about 50 m long, with 46 border stones and a chamber of 6 bearing stones with a very large cover stone. Besides are two lesser long dolmens, two dolmen chambers at Store Restrup's field and two passage graves at Tostrup; only one with a preserved cover stone. Plus two stone cists, 31 hill grave hills and an Iron Age stone cist. Of the hills are 4 rather large, fx Rådhøj at Tostrup, all the large hills are in the southern part of the parish.

Demolished or destroyed: One longhill, two indefinable stone graves and 40 hills; in an over-ploughed Bronze Age hill was found a claybox with lid as a hide for burnt bones. Stone Age's kitchen middens are known from Sovsbakke and from the edge of the meadow north of the town. Early Roman period's graves are found at St. Restrup, Tostrup and south of Sønderholm Station, where was also noted an Iron Age-settlement.

Source: Trap Danmark , Aalborg amt, 1961



Troldkirke is one of Denmark's finest long barrows, beautifully situated by Limfjorden, about 13 km west of Aalborg. The 50 meter long barrow has a hexagonal chamber, covered by one big stone. There are 46 surrounding stones of which the gable stones are over 2 meters tall. Long barrows are from Stone Age (ab. 3500-2800 BC). The North European Megalith culture is rather independent compared to other megaliths.


photo Sønderholm kirke/KLitgård/Troldkirke 2007: grethe bachmann

Strandby church / Strandby kirke, Gislum herred, Aalborg amt.

Strandby Church, 18 km south of Løgstør
Strandby sogn, Gislum herred, Aalborg amt.

The impressive high-placed church in Strandby has a Romanesque choir and nave and a western extension. The tower and the porch are from the end of the Middle ages. The Romanesque building parts are in granite ashlars. From original details are the high choir-arch preserved, the north and east window of the choir, two windows in the north side of the nave with simple monolite cover stones and two portals of the nave, both decorated with a simple thympanum. The north door is walled. A Romanesque coverstone is placed on the church yard. In a renovation of the roof were in 1904 found 12 lydpotter (sounding pots) in clay, 6 on each side, walled with the hollows to the room inside. The tower room which has a broad, original pointed arch to the nave, was from the beginning furnished for an over-vault, this was done in a restoration in 1954. In the nave is a beamed ceiling, in the choir a late Gothic cross-vault. The porch is mainly built in monk bricks.

Altar piece in high Renaissance from ab.1600. In the big field a painting from 1861, sign. F.C. Rodschou, Aalborg; in the side fields earlier paintings, in top field pietistic symbols. Wafer box given 1745 by Niels Povlsen and Gertrud Hofman of Gunderupgård, whose gifts to the church mark the interior; they gave the altar rails , ab. 1740, the staircase to the pulpit, a door-wing to the porch fr. 1743 and three chandeliers ( fr. 1724 and 1725) and probably other inventory pieces from the same period. In the south western corner of the choir is a well-preserved 1700s confessional. Large Romanesque granitefont with a smooth basin. Baptismal bowl , a Nürnberg work fr. 1550-1600. Sounding board from 1600s at the loft. A pulpit with old paintings in the archade-fields was given in 1639 by Axel Juul of Bjørnsholm. A herskabsstol (Master and Mistress) pews from 1600s. Else new, closed pews with simple gables.

Three large tablets from ab. 1750 with the names of Viborg bishops, rural deans in Gislum Herred (district) and priests in the parish since the reformation. Upon the wall by fattigbøssen (collection box) is a table with inscription from 1741, above this an inscription-cartouche with a small Baroque crucifix. Two church ships, one impressive model of Chr. IV's war ship "Justitia", given by Fr. IX in 1951, the other a model of the full-rigged ship "København." Organ in the tower room with painted panels, originating from a gallery which was put up in 1741, when the bottom part of the tower was furnished as a grave chapel for Niels Povlsen and family. In 1954 the room became a part of the church and the coffins were moved to a crypt. A church bell from 1954 -and a bell from 1500s without inscription is placed in the porch.


Ertebølle Hoved
Mini Museum & Stenaldercenter

Names in the Middle Ages and 1600s:
Strandby (* ab. 1200 Strandby); Tandrup (* 1477 Tandorp); Myrhøj (* 1477 Myøre Høy, 1373 Myrhøf); Grønnerup (1442 Grønnerop, 1610 Westergrønderup); Risgårde (* 1477 Riisgardt); Ertebølle (* 1477 Edbøll, 1633 Ettbøele); Strandbygårde (* 1435 Strandbyegaardt); Trend (1664 Thrend Mølle); Vestergårde (1633 Westergaard); Sjørupgårde( 1464 Sørupp); Gunderupgård
(* 1250s Gundrop); Kærsgård (1573 Kiersgaard); Vadgård (* 1477 Wadegardt); Lillemølle (1688 Lille Mølle boel).

At Vadgård was a chapel. A sacred spring Kapelkilden nearby.

Gunderupgård was in 1443 owned by Ture Ranke, whose widow fru Anne 1470 gave estate in Fredbjerg to Farsø Church, but in 1577 it belonged to Vitskøl Kloster and came at the reformation with V.K. to the Crown. 1573 the kloster was exchanged with some estate, among this Gunderupgård and Strandbygård to rigsråd Bjørn Andersen Bjørn , + 1583, who left them to his daughters Sidsel and MargretheBjørnsdatter Bjørn, who in 1592 was widow after Jørgen Ernst Worm. Sidsel Bjørnsdatter married in 1588 Godslev Budde of Rødslet, who made Gunderupgård a herregård (manor). Later he sold it to Rigborg Arenfeldt who in 1633 bought the other half of Strandbygård from Johan Brockenhuus. Rigborg Arenfeldt was married to Axel Juul, + 1664. Various owners up til present: Hofman, de Poulson, Rosencrone, Kjerulf. In 1920 P.M.Toft who outparcelled the estate. The main parcel has only 24 ha.(1961)

Strandbygård belonged in the beginnning of the 1400s probably to Dyonisius Pedersen Galskyt and after him to his son Jep Dyonisiussen Galskyt, but it seems that S. at the same time belonged to Laurids Jepsen Saltensee of Linde, and in 1433 the owner was Laurids Nielsen Saltensee of Linde, in 1443 his son Mikkel Lauridsen Saltensee, married to Jep Dyionisiussen's widow, who still in 1499 is the owner of S. But before 1477 it came to Vitskøl Kloster (= Bjørnsholm) and followed this estate for a long time. In 1778 it was a part of Gunderupgård.

Kærsgård was in 1552 part of Vitskøl Kloster and came in 1573 with this to Bjørn Andersen Bjørn. Still in 1778 it was a farm and a part of Gunderupgård.

Ørnebjerggård came with Strandbygård and Kærsgård to Bjørn Andersen Bjørn in 1573.

Vadgård was in 1477 part of Vitskøl Kloster It was a vicarage from 1564 till 1869 when the parish priest moved to a vicarage in Farsø.

Kongens jagthus (hunting lodge) in Trend. Trend skov, where a big part is a heath, was in 1937 bought to crownprince Frederick and crownprincess Ingrid on their two years anniversary. A hunting lodge was built and inaugurated in 1939. All expense was a gift from the Danish people.

In the meadow at Gunderupgård close south of Trend Aa (water stream) is a listed castle bank /motte. According to a document from 1740 Godslev Budde established the place, but he gave up building there. Later it seems that he built Gunderupgård after the same plan about 2 km to the west.


There are only weak traces of the kitchen midden
Listed prehistorics: 2 longhills and 53 hills, several large, at Trendgård a group of 12 hills, among these Trend Storhøj; close to the hunting lodge in Trend Skov is the 6 m high Storhøj, Simonshøj and another hill in Trend Skov and Torshøj north of this; 4 Urhøje which together with hills in Farsø parish form a group of 8 hills; two Tvillinghøje south of and Præstehøj west of Tandrup; Grønhøj and Skelhøj at Risgårde.
Listed is also an Iron Age stone cist grave at Myrhøj and the rests of Ertebølle-køkkenmødding, which was one of the largest in Denmark, originally 140 m long, 20 m broad and with a thickness of 2 m; during the years 1893-97 a large part of it was thoroughly excavated and examined by the National Museum and it has since given name to an era of early Stone Age.

Demolished or destroyed: 29 hills; in one hill at Gunderupgård were found a dagger, a paalstav (special bronze axe) and a spear from early Bronze Age.
Settlements from early Iron Age are known from Myrhøj and Tandrup Skole. At Grønnerup was found a piece of a large circular gold jewelry from Viking Period.

A mini-museum close to the cliff describes about the kitchen midden and the geology of the area. A few hundred meters from here is the exhibition of the Stenaldercenter which describes the nature in and around Ertebølle ab. 6-7000 years ago and how people lived, furthermore are several archaeological findings etc. A reconstructed settlement gives examples of how the huts from that period might have looked, and the visitors can see how flint was made into axes and other tools, and they can participate in activities like archery and skin tanning etc.

Source: Trap Danmark, Aalborg amt, 1961.


photo Strandby kirke 9. april 2009: grethe bachmann

Storvorde church / Storvorde kirke, Fleskum herred, Aalborg amt.

Storvorde Church, 10 km east of Aalborg
Storvorde sogn, Fleskum herred, Aalborg amt.

Romanesque granite font and hourglass on pulpit

The whole church building in Storvorde is late Gothic, built ab. 1500 in yellow monk bricks. In some places, especially in the triumphal wall and the western wall of the nave are some granite boulders and a few granite ashlars in the bottom section of the choir, possibly from an earlier building at the spot. The flat-arched north door is in use, but there are only weak traces from the south door. No original windows are preserved. The choir opens to the nave in a pointed triumphal arch. It has an un-finished star-vault, while the nave has a beamed ceiling. The tower's cross-vaulted bottom room is connected to the nave with a pointed tower arch. It is almost contemporary to the other part of the church; the upper section of the tower is much re-walled. The porch has a beamed ceiling.


primitive frescoes


crucifix ab. 1520 and sidefigure ab. 1300s


sidefigure ab. 1300s and Madonna, Claus Berg's North Jutland workshop ab. 1572.

The communion table is covered in a panel work from the end of the 1500s with diamond shaped fields. The altar piece is a Lutheranian triptychon from the same time with a top from 1710 and a Rococo-painting. Romanesque granite font with leaves on the basin. Choir arch crucifix from 1520 with fine side figures from ab. 1300. Furthermore a sitting Madonna-figure from 1350 and one standing Madonna-figure from ab. 1572, a magnificent work from Claus Berg's North Jutland workshop. Pulpit from 1612, a fine Renaissance work with name Hr. Christen N(ielsøn), rural dearn in Storvorde. The walls of the nave are covered in panel work from 1710 . Upon the door- wing of the porch is a keyhole plate from ab. 1750 formed as a priest. A late Gothic chest is now at the National Museum. Church ship from the end of the 1700s with Chr. VII's initials. Church bell from 1504 by Peter Hansen, Flensborg.


Church ship from the end of 1700s with the initials of Chr. VII

Names in the Middle Ages:
Storvorde (* 1345 Yterworthugh, 1406 Vdre Worthæ, 1461 (Stor(e)wordw).

In 1216 pope Innocens III confirmed Viborg bishopric's ownership of Storvorde.

The peasant Esbern Nielsen from Storvorde, who caught Skipper Klement on his flight from Aalborg in December 1534, got in 1539 as a reward a krongård (Crown-farm) in the parish, free of all expenses.

No listed prehistorics. Demolished: 3 hills. A Iron Age settlement west of the railway station and an early Roman stone grave in the western section of the parish.

Source:Trap Danmark, Aalborg amt, 1961


photo Storvorde kirke 2008: grethe bachmann

Stenild church / Stenild kirke, Gislum herred, Aalborg amt.

Stenild kirke, 10 km northwest of Hobro
Stenild sogn, Gislum herred, Aalborg amt.

Stenild church has a Romanesque choir and nave and a Gothic western tower. The Romanesque buildings are in granie ashlars. The east and north windows in the choir are preserved and in the north wall of the nave were at present re-opened two larger windows in Romanesque type. The other windows of the church are neo-Romanesque. The choir arch is original with profiled kragbånd. The tower has the same broadth as the nave and is up til the roof-height of the nave built in granite ashlars. Above this in raw boulderat but at present it was face walled in bricks . The tower room was connected to the nave in a broad point arched arcade, but this has been bricked up at present and the room equipped as a porch. Both doors are high, broad and round arched, the north door walled-in. The church has a modern beamed ceiling.

The granite communion table is covered in a simple Renaissance panel. Altar piece from the beginning of 1600s with wings; on the foot piece the coat of arms and initials of Vincens Lerche of Lerkenfeldt and fru Cathrine Hedwig Wibe. Altar rails in wrought iron 1920. Upon the north wall of the choir hang fragments of an antependium in velvet with the year 1669. A magnificent granite font with lions and male human heads in high relief, one of Denmark's largest Romanesque granite fonts.A baptismal bowl from 1500s, a Nürnberg work. A pulpit in Renaissance with free-pillars and arcades, according to inscription given by H. Esbern Iørensøn and Oluf Laurensøn 1619. Organ upon western gallery.Upon the church yard west of the church a large grave stone in Romanesque type with a cross.


Names in the Middle Ages:
Stenild (1436 Stenwedel); Boldrup (* 1439 Boldrup); Røjdrup (1486 Rygdrvp); Hannerupgård
( * 1555 Handrup).

Mogens Thomesen Seefeld sold in 1447 Boldrup to the bishop in Viborg. In one of the Crown's farms in Boldrup lived in 1558 Vogn Andersen Griis.

Niels Jonsen (Viffert) of Torstedlund achieved Hannerup in an exchange wit the Crown in 1578.

Hans Skovgåaard's widow Anne Parsberg of Gundestrup exchanged in 1585 with the Crown the farm Rejdrup and the half of Rejdrup mølle. The estate was endowed in 1593 to Erik Lykke.

Listed prehistorics: A stone cist at Røjdrup, a longhill and 35 hills; larger hills are Tohøje at Røjdrup, Hanhøj at Hannerupgård, Hørbyhøj and a large hill west of Stenild.
Demolished or destroyed: 40 hills

At Stenild was found a flint sickle with wooden handle.


photo Stenild kirke May 2007: grethe bachmann

Solbjerg church / Solbjerg kirke, Hellum herred, Aalborg amt.

Solbjerg Church, 10 km north of Hadsund
Solbjerg kirke, Hellum herred, Aalborg amt.

Solbjerg Church has a Romanesque choir and nave with a late Gothic western extension, all built in granite ashlars. The original north door is traceable, while the extended south door is in use. A round-arched window in the choir is walled. In the late Gothic period or shortly after was the nave extended about 4,7 m to the west in re-used ashlar material and monk bricks, and at the same time a star vault was built in the nave. Furthermore was the small narrow tower and the porch added. The church was restored in 1944.

The altar piece is finely carved high-Renaissance from ab. 1600 with a painting from 1724. Romanesque granite font with a smooth basin and a pyramid foot. Pulpit from the end of the 1700s or the beginning of the 1800s. Epitaph 1648 for Enevold Seefeld (+1643) and his wife. From a burial vault are coffin plates on the wall from the families Viffert, Urne, Harbo, Seefeld. A coffin crucifix is placed at the choir arch. Church bell from ab. 1200 with indistinct majuscel inscription. At the church yard close to the church is a large gravehill.


The gravehill close to the church

Names in the Middle Ages and 1600s:
Solbjerg (* 1418 Solbierig, 1471 Solbergh); Korup (1343 Karthorp); Viffertsholm ( 1578 Veffertzholm, 1664 Wiffertz Holm).

At Korup was probably once a church from which ashlar material was used in nearby buildings. One of the church dikes is traceable.

Viffertsholm was in 1578 owned by rigsråd Axel Viffert. After his death in 1580 his daughter Margrethe Viffert brought it first to Evald Sehested (+1589), later to Jørgen Urne (+1601). After Margrethe's death in 1622 her son Axel Urne inherited Viffertsholm. In 1634 it went to his sister Anne Urne , married to Enevold Seefeld (1643). After Anne's death in 1678 various owners up til present.

Korup was in Valdemar Atterdag's ruling period owned by Anders Pedersen of Granslev who pawned the estate to hr. Gregers Mogensen (later handed over to Jens Kaas (Sparre-Kaas) and Henneke Limbæk). In 1343 Anders Pedersen exchanged his rights to the former drost Peder Vendelbo who in vain offered tom pay the debts. Valdemar Atterdag judged the estate to Peder Vendelbo 4 times and at last he had to demand to impose Peder Vendelbo as the owner. In 1344 Peder Vendelbo was declared the owner of Korup, he once again offered to pay the debts, which then at last was done. After 1400 various owners, the families Lunge, Munk, Viffert etc. After 1576 belonged Korup to Viffertsholm.

In Sønderskov is a stretch of boggy land with a natural moat, Gårdsens Vold, an almost circular embankment, ab. 60 m diameter and in varied heights; some tile fragments are found , probably remains from the castle Trommelholt, which reminds about a castle-place of refuge from a much earlier period. Some nearby houses are still named Trommelholt.

The castle bank Korup Slot is situated 100 m out in flat meadow land which partly was under water still ab. 1900. The embankment is in west 5 m high and in east 4 m , the outer measure is 40 x 40 m with rounded corners. Tile-fragments are seen all over in the banks. In the western side is a tall rest of a tower, covered in wall-grovel and earth. The bank was cut through in the 1800s, where wall- and roof-fragments, glass pieces and charred woodwork were found. Surrrounding the bank is a 10-15 m broad grave and surrounding this a is a bank now 1 m high, disturbed by drainage.

Listed prehistorics: 4 longhills and 60 hills, several rather large fx Store Veddumhøj and Grønhøj in Viffertsholm Skov, two hills at Ny Viffertsholm and a hill north west of Solbjerg. In one of the hills was a stone cist, containing 7 flint daggers, 4 arrowheads and 3 claypots.
Demolished or destroyed: 32 hills.

Source: Trap Danmark, Aalborg amt, 1961.


photo Solbjerg kirke 2003: grethe bachmann

Skørping church / Skørping kirke, Hellum herred, Aalborg amt.

Skørping Church, 15 km south of Aalborg
Skørping sogn, Hellum herred, Aalborg amt.

The church in Skørping is situated in a parish with some of the most beautiful landscapes in Denmark, among this Rebild Bakker and Store Blåkilde. It has a Romanesque choir and nave with extensions from the late Gothic period, a tower to the west, a porch to the north and a chapel to the south. The Romanesque building is in granite ashlars. The north door is preserved and in use. Its cover stone is decorated with an archade frieze like in Gerding Church . Also the south door's cross-decorated thympanum is preserved. From the original windows is one at the north side of the choir - and a monolit cover-stone is walled in the chapel.

Inside the choir is preserved with profiled kragsten, and the nave has a beamed ceiling, while the choir in the late Gothic period got a cross-vault. From the late Gothic period is also the bottom part of the tower with re-used ashlars and monk bricks. Its cross-vaulted bottom room opens in a pointed arch to the nave. The top of the tower is built or strongly rebuilt in 1760, and the pyramid-spire is re-newed in 1928. The large cross-vaulted south chapel is connected to the nave in a pointed archade, and its frescoe-painted inauguration-cross shows that it must be from the Catholic period.




A foundation of an altar piece, which was uncovered in the chapel in 1951, is reasonably not connected to the Helligkorsalter (an altarpiece) which queen Margrethe I gave for a weekly Friday service. In 1951 late Gothic frescoes were uncovered in the south wall of the nave, they were restored by E.Lind. The altarpiece is from ab. 1600. Romanesque granite font with a smooth basin. Pulpit from the beginning of the 1600s with modern ornaments. Chandelier from 1727, given by Eva and Lauritz Schyom. Church ship, a modern model of the frigate "Jylland." Church bell from 1757, cast by Pieter Seest, Amsterdam, for Pieter Lange von Bergen.

Inside the dike of the churchyard is a sacred spring Helligkorskilden, which according to a document was discovered by vicar Erik Mortensen Kjær, + 1699. After an outcleaning coins from the Middle Ages were found in the spring, fx Rostockerpenninge from 1460-70. The spring was re-opened in 1924 on the initiative of Aalborg Amt's Historiske Samfund.

Egholm Voldsted
Store Blåkilde

Names in the Middle Ages:
Skørping ( * 1422 Skierping, Skiørping, 1461 Skyrpinth); Skindbjerg (1477 Skindberg); Rebild (1472 Ræbild); Ottruphuse (1477 Wbbedrop); Rebild Skovhuse ( * ab. 1490 Rebildt schoff); Teglgaard (1579 Thegelgaard); Legensgård (* 1463? Legims marc, * 1468 Legensmarck).

Teglgård (* 1549 Terstedt). After the reformation the herredsfogeder (district-bailiffs) in Hellum lived at Teglgård which belonged to the Crown, who 1663 endowed it to Mogens Friis of Vadskærgård, who sold it to Mogens Jensen ( former ridefoged at Aalborghus) whose widow Karen Christensdatter, + 1682, had it after him. Various owners/families: Lauridsen, Lange, Wulf, Bjørn etc. In 1944 it was sold to A.H.Fenger. (1961).

Egholm slotsruin/Slottet Egholm (Castle) (*1372 Egholm, Yegholm, 1391 Ekholm castrum) was sold by Hartvig Pogwisch 1372 to hr. Peder Iversen Lykke, whose son hr. Iver Lykke in 1374 sold it to Valdemar Atterdag. In 1391 queen Margrethe gave Egholm to Vor Frue Kloster in Aalborg, the building had to be demolished and the materials were used for a renovation of Vor Frue Kloster.

The listed Egholm voldsted (motte) is situated close to Lindenborg Aa/river in a meadow area which was under water in the castle period. There are several traces of the castle in the area. Egholm is Himmerland's most important memorial from the Middle ages.

In the meadow of Skørping Vicarage, about 200 m south of Egholm is a circular motte covered by a peat layer, which when cultivated sinks and reveals the form of a motte. Traces of fortifications surround the castle plan on three sides while the western side was protected by the water stream and the swamp. Palisades and thimber come up when the area is cultivated.


Rebild Bakker

Listed prehistorics:The parish is extremely rich in prehistorics and most of them are preserved: Two dolmen chambers in Bjergeskov and Skørpinglund, a stone cist at Rebild and two in Sønderskov, two longhills and 161 hills: impressive are Fruerhøj at Skindbjerg, a hill on the land of Skørping Vicarage and Sortehøj and Limovnen at Rebild. Especially Nørreskov, Skørpinglund and Mosskov are rich in hills and there are also many hills north of Rebild.
Demolished or destroyed: At the sanatorium a dolmen, here were found a battle axe, a claypot and 2 amber pearls; furthermore 49 hills. In a moor at Rebild Skovhuse was found a femal wooden figure, probably from Iron Age.

Source: Trap Danmark, Aalborg amt, 1961.


photo Skørping kirke , St. Blåkilde, Egholm, Rebild 2003, 2004, 2007: grethe bachmann