Mols

This amazing Dolmen is from around 3300 BC and is the largest round barrow in Denmark. The circle is made up of 235 ton stones. There used to be 24 but one was cut up by a stone cutter in the 1890s. The capstone is 21 tons. The spring equinox sun shines through the entrance.

Its pretty remote up here on the beautiful Djursland peninsula, just north west of Århus, but quite gorgeous. It’s the most beautiful part of Denmark I had yet seen. I wanted to see Poskær Stenhus – surely the most picturesque place in TME!

As we arrived the sun came out unbroken and I scampered about the monument like a happy bunny. Moth climbed the Tinghulen to get some height some photos and I, after speaking to a woman tending her horses (who, with the horse she currently tended had once lived in Lambourn) sat and found the view where the light was just right for me to paint.

Poskær Stenhus is essentially the skeleton of a monument exactly like Groenhøj – gorgeous pink kerbstones, bit of a passage, nice chamber complete with capstone, bob’s yer uncle. But the setting here is so very fabbie.

Rolling fields and hills, great views, green pasture, heathy bits – oooh! And the nicest thing it’s that somehow its all on a human scale. Nothing here is grand or majestic or mighty. It’s all rather comfortable and nice. I like that.

It should be noted that at Poskær Stenhus visitors will find excellent toilets, so for once, ladies, you don’t need to pee in the open and risk mooning as passers-by.

I even managed to make a sketch here. Happy Jane.

Featured in The Megalithic European (TME) page 160.

Access: Good – carpark very close to monument. On the Mols peninsula, fairly near Århus.

From the E45 , we left at junction 44 to avoid getting too ‘involved’ in Århus – not knowing what traffic would be like there. We headed east on the 587, hitting the 15 just north of Løgten, following the 15 to go to Rønde.

From Rønde we headed south towards Egens & Vrinners. After about 3km, we took a right to Vrinners and then on to Knebel. At Knebel turn left, signposted Agri 3 (according to Julian in TME). The monument is just under 1km along this road, on the right – you can’t miss it!

Visited 6 April 2006
This was one of the sites that had really captured both me & Jane on practically our first glance through The Megalithic European.

In the ‘flesh’, it certainly lived up to the anticipation!

A beautifully proportioned and beautifully positioned thing, rather than dominating from a hilltop, it nestles at the bottom of a gently sweeping valley.

Neatly denuded, the runddysse features a spectacular kerb and nicely preserved chamber – apparently there is evidence that there were originally 2 chambers, which accounts for why the existing one is not central.

Jane wandered around taking in the stones & looking for an angle to paint from, while I headed up the hillside to the south and then the north to properly check out the monument’s landscape.

A fantastic couple of hours & then off to catch as many of the numerous monuments in the surrounding area as we could!