Moth

Approximate long/lat coordinates only, but shouldn’t be too hard to find.

Featured in The Megalithic European (TME) page 155.

Access: In woodland, you can get close enough by car to see the monuments through the trees. The ground around the monuments is typical woodland mud, which may be slippery when wet.

Blommeskobbel is on the island of Als, so travel towards Sønderborg on the 8. We went a slightly different way to Julian in TME, but it looked simpler on the map.

Shortly after a roundabout at Bro, we took a right towards Kettingskov. As we reached Kettingskov, at a crossroads with a slightly more major road – Østkystvejen – we turned left and then took the next right, which is unconfusingly called Blommskobbel!

This is where we rejoined Julian’s route. Less than 50m along ‘Blommeskobbel’, fork left towards the woods. The road goes into the woods, and once into the woods, when it forks again you need to take the left fork.

The monuments are visible on your right after you have been in the woods for less than 1km.

Visited 2 April 2006
Another must-see & a cool place (in more ways than one when we went!) We spent quite a while here, despite the rain & cold. Which is saying something considering Jane’s aversion to cold....

Two langdysser, a denuded but recogniseable runddysse & a diddy dolmen (probably also from a runddysse)! And those langdysser are beauties – big & beefy!!! (Not nearly as long as Landeskov langdysse 1, but somehow more impressive to me....)

The ruined runddysse and the other remaining dolmen squeezed against a tree also add hugely to the site and the whole complex merits a good deal of examination.

Interesting to try to photograph because of the trees – at least they weren’t in leaf! The trees also do an amazingly good (or rather, bad) job of hiding the fact that you are so close to the sea – a view of which would add yet another dimension to the site!

I believe the woods contain a good few other monuments, but that these are at least mostly, or possibly completely, trashed.

We did find nearby the wrecked and difficult to find (& access!) overgrown remains of another barrow – probably another langdysse. Hardly worth seeing, and I’m afraid I can’t remember reliably exactly how to find it. I think it was a little way back up the access road (100m maybe, on the ‘field’ side).

Fairly approximate long/lat coordinates only, as I couldn’t spot the monument among the trees on the arial photomap. They shouldn’t be far out though.

Access: A 200m walk through the woods on paths north from Havrekobbel. I just followed what looked like the ‘main’ paths & they took me straight to the monument. You could approach up from the Troldhøj road which is the next turning north, to the west of Havrekobbel, but it’s quite steep and I’m not sure how easy it would be to spot the site on the hillside amongst the trees.

For road directions, see Frydendal Kro and continue north & west past Frydendal Øst to Havrekobbel.

Visited 3 April 2006
A pretty spot overlooking a small valley with a road at the bottom.

Can’t help thinking that without the forestry, the view might well be

beautiful – in retrospect I wonder if the sea might once have visible. I suspect not, as the valley bears to the east.

The ‘Old Troll’s Hill’ is a pretty well-preserved runddysse (round barrow). Excavations found a 17cm flint dagger at the bottom of the mound and a bronze-age urn in the chamber.

It has a relatively undamaged mound which is made more dramatic by being built on a the highest point of a steepish valley. To complete the picture, it has a nice exposed chunky chamber, complete with capstone. A little beauty!

Approximate long/lat coordinates only, but shouldn’t be too hard to find – famous last words!

Access: In woodland, a short walk through the trees on fairly level & fairly even ground. May be boggy and/or slippery in wet weather. Just about visible from road – you can certainly see the road from the monuments, at least when the trees aren’t covered in leaves!

On the island of Als, so travel towards Sønderborg on the 8. Continue on the 8 until you are nearly at Fynshav, looking out for a turning left to Helleved (& probably Elstrup) – the road may be called Katry. Take this and prepare to take the next right, ‘Helved’ (not sure if there is a sign that tells you its name).

The road bears left and enters a forest. At the first crossroads (very approximately 1km along this road) turn right and pretty much immediately, the monuments are in the trees on your right.

Visited 2 April 2006
Here there is a dolmen in the almost flattened remains of its runddysse mound, and a very ‘shallow’ (flattened, I assume) langdysse with an open cist-like chamber.

Pretty underwhelming, but worth a look if you’re travelling to the more impressive sites in the area.

Apparently, on the other side of the road, there are 3 large burial mounds. We didn’t investigate, as the trees on that side seemed much more dense....

Approximate long/lat coordinates, as I couldn’t see the site among the trees on the aerial photomap. We just happened to spot the site on the right of the road travelling NW from Frydendal Kro, so shouldn’t be too hard to find!

Access: Through reasonably even undulating wood, visible from road, at least when trees are not in leaf!. For directions, see Frydendal Kro.

Visited 3 April 2006
Spotted this one from the road just after leaving Frydendal Kro. Nothing terribly spectacular, but worth keeping an eye-out for – chunky chamber stones & large mound.