Sindal

Sindal is a small railway town situated halfway between Hjørring and Frederikshavn. It grew up north of the railway line, which was built up through Vendsyssel in 1871. Sindal originally consisted of a collection of farms lying slightly further north close to the old Sindal church, which dates back to the 12th century. Sindal is surrounded by farmland and a number of large woods: Tolne Skov, Slotved Skov and Børglum Klosterskov. There are also several estates in the area: Baggesvogn, Bøgsted, Høgholt and Eskjær Hovedgaard. Much of the area was previously covered by woodland, but throughout the Middle Ages the proportion of cultivated land grew.

This enabled the nobility that owned the estates to base their economy on the purchase, fattening and sale of bullocks. Prior to the enclosure movement, the farms were gathered in villages surrounded by the land which they farmed. The way in which the individual farms had divided the land gives an indication of the age of the village. The uneven distribution of fields in Sindal suggests that the village dates back to before the Viking period. During the Middle Ages the farms were owned by the aristocracy. The farmers were tenant farmers who paid manorial dues to the owner of the estate and worked as villeins. They grew various crops such as rye, barley, oats, buckwheat and flax. In 1797 the village of Sindal was enclosed. The farms were moved out, and every farm was allocated land in four different places: one plot of arable land, one plot of moorland, one plot of meadowland and one plot of bogland. In the second half of the 19th century, the heath and bog plots were sold off to smallholders.
Farming has always provided the foundation for Sindal’s existence. This is why the mill Sindal Mølle is now a landmark for the town.

The mill is the oldest commercial building in Sindal. It is a brick windmill of the Dutch type, the most famous example of this kind of mill being Dybbøl Mill in southern Jutland.

The mill has been extensively refurbished, and in future will be used as a venue for cultural and artistic activities.

The merchant’s house “Sindal Købmandshandel” was one of the first businesses in the town. It served people from both the land and the town, and they drove to the store in horse-drawn carriages right up until after the Second World War. The store stocked a wide range of products: groceries, hides and skins, corn, animal feed, fertilizer, coal, coke, oil, hardware and ironmongery, cement products and timber. Today, the old stable and one of the storehouses which dates back to about 1900 – “Gøgsigs Pakhus” – have been preserved. The stable has been converted into a arts centre, while the storehouse is now used for exhibitions on three storeys as well as a café. The storehouse is also where the storehouse exhibition “Pakhusudstillingen” is held, which is open for a month every summer.

From the construction of the railway and up until after the war, the town grew to include a cooperative dairy, supermarket, banks, schools, a nursing home, a nonconformist chapel, a Baptist church and a new parish church. Today, Sindal works to provide the right leisure environment for people living in the town with a sports centre, lots of societies and associations and cultural events, given that half of those in the labour market work further afield. Sindal Udviklingscenter is a centre for development and services for citizens, companies, associations and tourists in the Sindal area. The tasks of the centre are as follows:

• To help local associations etc.  develop and work together and to facilitate collaboration between the voluntary associations and the municipality
• To assist with project descriptions and project applications
• To provide information about the municipality and local events.