Mårup

Mårup cemetery. In the background Rubjerg Knude .

Overgrown graves.

Mårup is a former church village in the municipality of Hjørring , directly on Jammer Bay in northern Jutland . The steep coast of Lønstrup Klint extends over 12 km. The village church of Mårup Sogn fell victim to coastal erosion , the last remains were removed in autumn 2015. Parts of the cemetery have also been washed into the sea.

The place offers an impressive spectacle of coastal erosion on an active erosion coast. Above all, the alternation of storms, floods, rain, frost and thaw affects the cliffs, and frost blasts can lead to large landslides. In the past hundred years the coastline has receded by 300 meters. Visitors should heed the warning notices on the edge of the demolition.

Mårup Kirke

Mårup Kirke before the gradual demolition, status 2004.

The Romanesque hall church with choir was built in the 13th century according to the simplest model of Jutian village churches. The reinforcement of the north wall with round-arched pilaster strips was remarkable . Only they were made of bricks, while the rest of the church was built from stones found on the beach. This not very stable construction required frequent repairs. A church tower was demolished in the 18th century and replaced by a free-standing wooden belfry.

The parish gave up the building in 1926 and the interior was moved to the newly built church in Lønstrup. After that there was only a mobile seat in the church, in which services were celebrated on special occasions until Easter 2008. The orphaned church building went into the care of the Danish National Museum. In 1998 extensive archaeological excavations took place.

The severe storms of the following years pushed the coastline back so far that the first corner of the cemetery was attacked a little later. The edge was only a few meters away from the building. However, a Danish company tried to secure the coastal strip. In August 2007 the Danish National Museum rejected the proposal to move the church to the open-air museum at Lyngby , citing the costs and opposition from the local population . At the end of November 2007, the authority responsible for cultural and landscape protection decided to dismantle the church in a controlled manner. The roof structure and interior fittings were dismantled and stored in autumn 2008. In 2011 the walls were reduced to a height of 2 m. The further dismantling should ensure a safety distance to the demolition edge of around 6 m. The wall base was to be retained in order to mark the building outline for as long as possible. The dismantling of the east gable was initially planned for the period 2016/19. A decision as to whether the church will be rebuilt elsewhere is still pending.

The third phase of dismantling began in August 2014: the facing stones from the facade were removed so that the core of the wall was exposed. For the first time ever, the core of medieval church walls in Denmark was completely exposed, which resulted in valuable insights into historical building technology.

In September 2015 the last stones of the building were removed. The team around church archaeologist Henriette Rensbro found a medieval children's grave under the altar area. A precise classification and dating of the finds is still pending. The excavations also extend to the surrounding cemetery. Search trenches are to be dug along the cemetery paths in order to be able to determine the age and original extent of the cemetery. In the cemetery there is a grave for the victims of the sinking of the English frigate 'The Crescent' in 1808, but probably not for all 226 sailors, but only for a few officers.