Moth
Access: A hundred yards or so from the nearest road (north), up a fairly gentle hill, but the ground is quite rough.
We approached from the 11, heading north from its junction with the 15 between Ringkøbing on the coast & Herning.
Just after Brejning, we turned left (west) towards Ølustrup itself. The monument and a small parking place are on the right (north) of the road only about 1km before you reach the village. We missed it in that direction but found it easily by getting to the village and coming back the other way.
Visited 1 April 2006
James Dyer describes this complex as ‘three long dolmens and a long barrow’ in his 1972 book Discovering Archaeology in Denmark. To be honest, it seemed a bit of a mess.
I’ve posted a photo of a plan on a board by the road – make sure you have a good look at it before visiting the monuments! If you have a digital camera with you, take a photo of the plan/sign on your way to the monument – or print it from here! We found it very difficult to work out what was what once actually among the monuments.
Without the plan, you risk getting lots of lumps & bumps, some of which look kind of like barrows. Of course, the real giveaways are those that have had chunks dug away to expose some nice chamber stones!
Featured in The Megalithic European (TME) page 164.
Access: Pretty good. You can park on the small road right next to the monument(s). Through gate to smoothly grassed site.
Finding it can be a nightmare though!!! We found the small roads to the north of Bække to be a bit of a labyrinth, but we didn’t approach from the best direction, having missed a turning.
Instead, I’d advise carefully following Julian’s instructions in TME – leave the 469 between Grinsted & Kolding, 0.7km west of the 417 junction, to head south on Hamborggårdvej. (This was the one we missed. so be really alert!)
On Hamborggårdvej, you will also pass the huge Hamborggårdsten oath stone.
About 1km from the 469, turn right onto Tværvej. Then next left onto Klæbekvej. Klæbek Høje is a couple of hundred metres down on your left. (Or should be!!!)
Visited 1 April 2006
Here are 2 impressively domed round barrows from the bronze age, with added Viking skibssætning – a megalithic longship – between the barrows.
The ‘boat’ even features larger stones at the tips, presumably as prow & stern. One of these stones (the stern, I believe) features Viking runic carving, unusually including abbreviations.
According to James Dyer in his 1972 book Discovering Archaeology in Denmark, it was carved in the 9th century & says “Revne and Tobbe made these signs in memory of Vibrog, their mother”.
A disturbed and empty grave was found in the middle of the ship & there are curious tracklike depressions in the ground that run along the axis of the ‘ship’. The depressions are apparently the remains of a military road or trackway.
Dyer says the road was prehistoric. Seeing them, I wasn’t really convinced what they were, but I guess there’s some evidence I don’t know about!
So, anyway, hoorah! Our first ‘proper‘ Danish monument – just like in TME – not like anything in Britain. Of course the main difference is the Viking skibssætning, but the barrows are also considerably better preserved than most we see here – having been spared the attentions of the plough.....
Featured in The Megalithic European (TME) page 164.
Access: Right on the road. See my fieldnote on Klæbek Høje.
Visited 1 April 2006
A monster! In TME, Julian calls the stone ‘legendary’ and says it was used by Vikings for swearing oaths. However, as it appears as an add-on under Klæbek Høje, he doesn’t say any more. There is an info board, but of course, it’s in Danish....
I’d wondered if the stone was an erratic (not that that would’ve meant it wasn’t significant) but the pictures on the info board do include a drawing of people moving the stone into place. Whether the text asserts that it was deliberately placed I don’t know, as I can’t read (or speak) Danish!
The board does also show what seems to be an excavation, so perhaps there was evidence found at that time that it had been placed. Interestingly though, the stone seems to be far below (modern) ground-level – whereas now, it seems to be simply sitting on the ground....
Edit: Charlotte Thomsen saw my note and kindly provided this translation:
Hamborggårdstenen was moved by the ice during the latest ice age from Finland to its present location in Jutland, Denmark about 15,000 years ago.
The stone is approximately one billion years old (1,000,000,000), weighs about 50 tons and is made of granite. Originally the stone was embedded in the ground 20 meters further west but in January 1990 it was moved to its present location.
The stone is connected to old folklore and this is what the picture relates to: King Harold Bluetooth (10th Century) was moving the stone to his mother’s grave in Jelling but when he heard that his son Sweyn Forkbeard was rebelling against him, he left the stone.
Thank you Charlotte!!!
1 April 2006 The information board – translations welcome!
Image credit: Tim Clark
2 April 2006The skibssætning as we arrived after a pleasant & short walk through the small wood
Image credit: Tim Clark
Featured in The Megalithic European (TME) page 156-7.
Access: Well signposted once you get fairly near. Parking area. Walk is a couple of hundred yards or so from the nearest road (north west), gently uphill along a dirt path through a small wood. Fairly uneven & may be muddy in the wet.
To reach the monument, get to Søndersø, which is on the 311 between Odense & Bogense. Travelling NW on the 311 from Søndersø, take Sanvad – a right turn (NE) towards Stensby, Skamby, Ulleup & Otterup. After around 1km, take a left towards Stensby, Skamby & Glavendrup. As Julian says in TME, I believe it’s signposted from here.
On reaching Stensby, take a left then a quick right towards Glavendrup. Very soon there is a left (Stenager) which passes just to the NW of Glavendrup village. At a crossroads just outside Glavendrup, go straight across, staying on Stenager. The woods containing the monument are a few hundred metres on the left.
Visited 2 April 2006
As you walk through the pleasantly airy woods to the restored skibssætning you will see many modern runestones, some dedicated to archaeologists involved in the restoration.
This is slightly ironic, as in 1800 a gravel pit meant many of the stones of the skibssætning were moved and lost. It was restored (badly) between 1892 and 1894, but the job was done properly in 1958. At that time they also found traces of Viking cremation burials.
The large runestone at the ‘prow’ was found separately, and in his 1972 book Discovering Archaeology in Denmark James Dyer seems to imply that this may not have been its original position. A shame, but hey, it looks great!!!
Here’s a translation of the runes from both sides of the stone, adapted from a couple of sources:
“Ragnhildr placed this stone in memory of Alle, the housecarls’ chieftain, high priest of the sanctuary. Alle’s sons made this monument in memory of their father, and his wife in memory of her husband. And Sóti carved these runes in memory of his lord. Thor bless these runes. A warlock be he who damages this stone or drags it (to stand) in memory of another.”
Ragnarock ‘n’ roll!!! An impressive monument and a very cool place!!!
There are (at least) 11 monuments around Lindeskov. We found 7 of them, including Langdysse 1 – the longest in Denmark, at 180m and a group of 4 in a clearing in a small wood.
Download a nice pdf leaflet in Danish but with a very handy map visitodense.com/dk/Naturfoldere/Lykkesholm_dk.pdf I advise rightclicking & choosing ‘Save as’, as trying to save it once I’d opened it online crashed my PC....
Wish we’d had the map when we visited! Good luck in finding the ‘missing pieces’!!
Access: See fieldnotes for Lindeskov Langdysse 1. This ‘subcomplex’ is reached by a lane that enters the woods a couple of hundred metres to the west of the monuments.
This is not the same lane as Lindeskov Langdysse 1 is on, but if heading west on the 323, it is the next (small) lane heading north.
Once at the woods, reach the clearing by a worn path leading east along the edge of the woods. The path is a little overgrown and not all that even. Could be slippery when wet.
Visited 2 April 2006
Wow!!! What a wonderful surprise! My research hadn’t led us to these monuments, but we saw them on an information board at Lindeskov Langdysse 1.
Neither Julian in The Megalithic European, nor James Dyer in Discovering Archaeology in Denmark even mentions their existence! (but then Julian only mentions Langdysse 6 and Dyer only Langdysse 1 & 6.)
In a clearing in the woods there are 2 langdysser, a burial chamber (dyssekammer) and a round barrow (runddysse). They’re a little ‘worn around the edges’, but still totally essential viewing.
2 April 2006 Looking back at main part of site – langdysser
Image credit: Tim Clark
2 April 2006 Approaching from main part of site
Image credit: Tim Clark
Visited 2 April 2006
Tucked away round some trees behind Langdysse 2 is this nice little round barrow.
It’s so bijou that by Danish standards it hardly seems more than a cist in a small mound, but it has a nice kerb & of course the mound may well have once been considerably taller.
A lovely thing & among the stuff we saw in Denmark, quite unusual. I’d reckon it was well worth visiting in itself, but combined with the nearby monuments....
2 April 2006 Exposed stones looking kind of passage-like
Image credit: Tim Clark
2 April 2006 From the east – halfway up a tree....
Image credit: Tim Clark
2 April 2006 Approaching from the woodland path
Image credit: Tim Clark
Visited 2 April 2006
A beauty! Very nice langdysse, though looks a little dug out in places.
The exposed chamber stones seem a little odd. It’s a small setting, almost like passage stones, but pointing in the ‘wrong’ direction – as you’d usually expect them to go to the side of the monument (see Langdysse 3).
Possibly a cist?
Unfortunately I’ve been unable to find any detailed info on these monuments, and none in in English....
Visited 2 April 2006 The southern chamber with what appears to be a vestigial (or destroyed!) passage
Image credit: Tim Clark
2 April 2006 Southern capstone in foreground, looking towards northern chamber
Image credit: Tim Clark
2 April 2006 Looking roughly north, from a tree
Image credit: Tim Clark
Visited 2 April 2006
Probably the jewel in this site’s crown.
Large, and denuded (presumably, or perhaps excavated) enough to allow the chambers to be nicely exposed.
The southern chamber has some stones ‘attached’ that look a bit like the remains of a passage. The northern chamber is a lovely big slabby thing with a raw-looking boulder capstone.
Combined with some big beefy kerbstones, this was a Moth favourite. Oh for some information – in English!
2 April 2006With ubiquitous (in my opinion, commendably) Danish wind turbines
Image credit: Tim Clark
2 April 2006 From nearest road (looking roughly east)
Image credit: Tim Clark
2 April 2006 From edge of woods where you park for Dysser i Lindeskov Hestehave, looking (roughly) SE. Rise on field horizon could be the remains of the mound, or may have been a ridge in the field, we couldn’t investigate more closely (see fieldnotes)
Image credit: Tim Clark
Access: For directions to Lindeskov, see Lindeskov Langdysse 1. For directions to the dolmen itself, see Dysser i Lindeskov Hestehave. If you can get permission to walk up to the site from the nearby farm, it looks like an easy walk of 100m or so across pasture.
Visited 2 April 2006
We could see this from Lindeskov Langdysse 1. Couldn’t investigate it closely, as it’s not officially open to the public. And we couldn’t ‘sneak’ over to it, as there were people working in the nearby farm but time constraints meant we didn’t have time to go and ask permission.
Looks like a beauty, and from the west a ‘rise’ in the field suggested the vestiges of an enormous covering mound.
2 April 2006 Fairly unusually, the Danes have ‘dropped the ball’ by placing the car park, signage, rubbish bin & gubbins too close to the monument
Image credit: Tim Clark
2 April 2006 View along the top of the langdysse showing cist- or passage-type exposed stone structure in foreground
Image credit: Tim Clark
2 April 2006 View from the north – it really is long!
Image credit: Tim Clark
2 April 2006 View from the next road to the west, the one that allows access to Dysser i Lindeskov Hestehave
Image credit: Tim Clark
Access: Very good. You can park right next to the monument. Actually, too close – in fact, if you have a 4WD (hawk, spit!) you could probably park on top of it! (Don’t!)
To reach the monument, take the 8 to Orbæk. Head west(ish) out of the village on the 323. After leaving the village, travel around 1km or less & take what I think is the first turning on the right (north). This turning is just after a large farm at the beginning of a gentle right kink in the 323, and very soon after a turning to Lindeskov village.
Within moments, the langdysse will appear from behind a building and some trees on your right.
Visited 2 April 2006
The longest (or langest) langdysse in Denmark & it failed to make Julian’s cut for The Megalithic European. I can kind of see why – assuming he visited it.
It’s mind-bogglingly long, but I found it somehow slightly underwhelming and ‘soulless’. The drab weather didn’t help, but ultimately, the facts that it was so huge & has a largely complete set of large kerbstones didn’t stop it looking too much like a stretch of disused railway embankment!!!
Perhaps it suffers from chambers not being visible, despite several apparent attempts at excavation.
A tiny chamber is exposed at the north end, without its capstone. But if it wasn’t for James Dyer in Discovering Archaeology in Denmark, I would have probably thought this was the remains of an inserted cist.
It’s a shame that it’s difficult to get a view from the east to properly appreciate its full length (due to ploughed/cultivated field), as from the west, part of it is obscured by the trees mentioned above. It’s also marred by a rubbish bin, an info board & the parking space.
All that said, it’s pretty damn impressive & absolutely a must-see.
Featured in The Megalithic European (TME) as an inset on page 157.
Access: Very good. Right next to the 323 with a layby right next to it. For directions to Lindeskov, see Lindeskov Langdysse 1, but continue west along the 323. Very soon, the monument will appear on your right, immediately next to the road.
Visited 2 April 2006
Wow! A massively impressive skeleton, this must have been a monster when ‘clothed’ in its mound.
For some, the site may be marred by the proximity of the road. But for me, the ‘flipside’ that the closeness to the road makes it easy for all to reach negates this, & adds that feeling that this is a survivor that won’t be done away with easily! And how!
Lindeskov 6 boasts no fewer than 4 good-sized chambers (actually, 2 are huge) plus another diddy one at the west.
The number of undeniably large stones used here make this one of those sites that still fills me with wonderment at the effort put into building these things – no matter how used to looking at them I get!
Wonderful.
2 April 2006 Diddy 5th chamber (far west) with capstone off
Image credit: Tim Clark