Small towns and villages in the Municipality of Hjørring

People are different – and thankfully so. Some prefer larger towns and cities with their hectic lifestyles and everything on offer there, while others feel more comfortable with the often quieter village life. Small towns and villages are often characterised by a strong sense of community, with thriving societies and associations, with their own traditions and with impressive scope for all manner of pursuits. This has often been achieved on very small budgets and thanks to considerable voluntary effort and has helped shape the identity of the individual towns and villages:

Bindslev
–This small riverside town is situated on the road between Tversted and Sindal. It has a population of approx. 1,800 and its own school, kindergarten and various shops.

At the centre of the town is Anlægget, an idyllic green area with very tall, old trees from 1920 and a collection of approx. 200 different rhododendrons. The river Uggerby Å runs through the town, and provided the basis for the old electricity works Bindslev Gl. Elværk, the only hydroelectric DC electricity works in Denmark, which supplied the town and the surrounding land with electricity from 1920 until 1968. Close to the old electricity works is one of the most beautiful and best fish ladders in Northern Europe, constructed from granite boulders in 1976.

As the salmon travel upstream, you can watch the fish jump from one basin to the other, and when the eel make their way up the river, thousands of them can be seen braving the fish ladder at once. Each year in July, the international accordion festival Bindslev Harmonikatræf is organised. About 1,000 accordion players descend on the town for the three-day event. A popular festival, the high point of which is the procession of accordion players through the town.
For further information, visit:  www.bindslev.dk

Tversted
The dimple by the sea. This is how Tversted is described, with its charming village scene and the picturesque old houses lining the road leading down to the beach. Tversted has a population of approx. 1,800 (including Uggerby and Tuen). In the summer, the population grows considerably as holiday home owners and other tourists bring life and buzz to the village. Tversted is surrounded by beautiful and varying countryside. North of the village is the dune plantation Tversted Klitplantage, which is made up of a mixture of conifers and deciduous trees. The Tversted lakes in the middle of the plantation are a popular destination, created through the damming of the small stream “Hvarrebæk”. Also in the plantation, in a glade overlooking the sea, is “Østerklit”, a beautiful old thatched barn with the last working post mill in Denmark on the roof. Art and culture are central to life in Tversted. The beautiful landscape and the wonderful interplay of colours between the sky and the sea provide inspiration for the many artists and craftspeople who live in the village, and the cultural event of the year – the Jazzy Days festival – attracts many big jazz names from Denmark and abroad.

Bjergby-Mygdal
Prior to the municipal reform in 1970, Bjergby-Mygdal was an independent rural district comprising the parishes of Bjergby and Mygdal. Today, the affiliation of the villages of Bjergby and Mygdal Mejeriby is manifested by a joint village committee and a joint Internet portal. The aim of the portal is both to encourage digital debate among the villagers and to provide information about businesses, societies and institutions in the villages.

Bjergby has a primary school, a supermarket, a surgery, a riding school and a deanery, while Mygdal boasts a village hall and a thriving arts and crafts scene. The area has a number of societies and associations, including a joint sports association, which has existed for 125 years. The most well-known attraction in the area is the Odden manor with its collection of works by J.F. Willumsen. The sculpture park Peterspladsen is named after Peter Jensen from Bjergby, who spent his life toying with scrap metal, odds and ends and concrete. Out of these materials grew the enormous animal sculptures now populating Peterspladsen in Bjergby.

Horne (Asdal og Åbyen)

The three villages form a small triangle south of Hirtshals, closely connected by the school, kindergarten and sports hall which are all situated in Horne. The village of Horne is situated at a high point in the landscape with views of the surrounding area. It has a grocery shop, a church and Horne Ungdomsskole, a school offering the standard Year 9 and Year 10 subjects supplemented by many creative subjects. Trains from Hjørring to Hirtshals stop in Horne. Åbyen and Horne are approx. one kilometre from the motorway, and perfect for commuters.

Tornby
Strand, skov og bjerg. Et bjerg – kan det nu passe? Jo, der er faktisk et bjerg i Tornby. Med sine 88 meter over havoverfladen må Beach, woods and a mountain. A mountain – really? Yes, there is actually a mountain in Tornby. At 88 metres above sea level, Tornby Bjerg must be described as a mountain – at least by local standards. The views from the summit are fantastic – from Børglum Kloster and Rubjerg Knude in the south across the bay Tannis Bugt towards Skagen in the north. In the last century, drifting sand was a serious problem in the Tornby area, which resulted in the creation of the dune plantation Tornby Klitplantage. The plantation stops the sand and is also a beautiful and unique dune plantation with an interesting and lush flora. The Stone Age shoreline and seabed are clearly visible in the inland dune landscape. In the past, Tornby was almost synonymous with the Skagerrak sea trade. It may be hard to imagine that 200 years ago, before ferries and modern port facilities, there was a lively sea trade across the Skagerrak, but Tornby was actually the centre of the sea trade between Denmark and Norway.

The era is illustrated at Tornby Gl. Købmandsgaard, a real sea trader’s yard with fittings and equipment from 1860. The shop still sells salted fish, salami, rope and camomile soap. In addition to its exciting history, Tornby is a modern and thriving village with its own school, kindergarten, sports hall and village shop.

Lønstrup
Lønstrup lies in the lee of the dunes, approx. 13 kilometres west of Hjørring. During the winter, the village has a population of approx. 500, but sees an almost twenty-fold increase in the summer months. The village consists of a small quarter which is sheltered by the ravine leading to the sea, and a new area of single-family houses to the north of the old part of the village. The old quarter is characterised by shops and workshops selling arts and crafts, galleries and eating venues.

The name of Lønstrup is thought to originate from the manor Løthentorp which was situated further to the west, where now there is sea. The valley in which Lønstrup is situated was the manor's mill pond. Like the other towns and villages along the west coast of Vendsyssel, Lønstrup engaged in sea trade with Sørlandet in Norway. Lønstrup shipped butter, corn, eggs, meat and aquavit to Norway. And the vessels returned from Sørlandet with timber and cast ironware.
The sea trade from Lønstrup started in about 1760 and lasted until about 1877. That year, natural disaster struck. On 11 August the clouds started gathering, and by noon

the village was hit by torrential rain which lasted for an hour and a half.
The small stream running through Lønstrup became a 360-metre-long ravine, 15 metres wide and 4.5 metres deep. Six houses were washed away, and the roof of a large barn was damaged. The roof flipped off and was carried away by the current like a boat. The sea trading yard belonged to Axel Rosenkrantz Segelcke, the largest sea trader in Lønstrup. He also owned a three-storey warehouse at the beach, five vessels, half of the land in the parish and Maarup church. After the disaster, Segelcke was unable to access his warehouse for months, and he therefore decided to move most of his business to Hjørring.

At this time, the railway between Nørresundby and Frederikshavn had been constructed. In the years that followed, fishing became increasingly important for most people in Lønstrup. As late as 1870, not much fishing went on in Lønstrup, but the turn of the century marked the start of a period of growth. The first motor vessel arrived in 1906, and by 1934 twenty motor vessels were registered. The fishing lasted until about 1970. Today, anglers land their catches where the boats used to be hauled up onto the shore. In recent years, developments in Lønstrup have primarily been driven by the many tourists who have discovered the village, which has meant that Lønstrup today has a tourist information office, letting of holiday homes, numerous shops selling arts and crafts, clothes and souvenirs, supermarkets, campsites, a hotel, bars and cafés, tennis courts and a cinema as well as other tourist-related businesses. The population of Lønstrup shares its facilities for children and young people with the villages of Sønderlev and Vennebjerg in the form of Skallerup school and kindergarten. The Skallerup sports hall and the sports facilities at Skallerup Klit Feriecenter are also used by all.

Vittrup
Vittrup is a small village consisting of 85 houses and a population of approx. 200. Together with Gjurup, Bakholm, Hundelev, Gølstrup/Rubjerg and Tovbro, the village of Vittrup forms a string of pearls along road no. 55 between Hjørring and Løkken. The town was founded in 1914 when the private railway from Hjørring to Løkken and Aabybro was constructed with a station in Vittrup. However, after the closing-down of the railway line, the village is now served only by buses to Hjørring (15 km away) and Løkken (5 km away) approx. once every hour. Today, Vittrup has a grocery store with a petrol pump, a kindergarten in the old dairy, a continuation school in the old school buildings, an agricultural machinery pool, a haulage business, a hairdresser, several building firms and a souvenir shop catering for the many tourists who drive through the village daily to get to the stunning beaches at Løkken and Nr. Lyngby or to the interesting Børglum Kloster.
For further information, visit  www.vittrup-by.dk

Hundelev
Hundelev is a village with a population of just over 200, situated between Løkken and Hjørring. Hundelev has a school up to Year 7, a savings bank and a supermarket. In 2005, it was named village of the year for children in the County of Northern Jutland due to its many active societies and associations and the great sense of community comprising shops, societies and citizens. The Hundelev residents’ association has celebrated its 25th anniversary, and the village has a popular youth club and a large sports club. Costly projects are often realised by means of funding from the EU, municipal funding, contributions from local societies and the local savings bank as well as the voluntary labour of the locals. In this way, a new sports hall has been built at the school as well as an octagonal forest pavilion, a composing toilet, shelters, a barbecue site, a wall of firewood, tables and benches, climbing trunk and signposting of the path to Fælleden. This is an area surrounding the village which for more than 100 years has belonged to all owners of land within the old land registry area Hundelev By.

Vrensted
Even though Vrensted is situated inland, it is only 6 kilometres from the seaside resort of Løkken, and the approx. 400 villagers very much feel that they live by the coast with the best beach in Denmark, near the harsh and wonderful North Sea, yet surrounded by unique countryside with a mix of woodland, bog and farmland. Vrensted is a very charming village with a village pond, open green spaces, varied housing in the form of both single-family houses, tenancy housing for the elderly and older houses as well as disused and renovated farms. Vrensted is served by regular buses to both Løkken and Brønderslev, but most everyday shopping can be done in the village. It has a school (Year 0-7), sports facilities, a stadium, youth club, riding club, daycare institution, surgery with five GPs, a church, savings bank, youth hostel and good shopping in the form of a grocery store with a post office and pharmacy outlet. There are also several building firms and small industrial enterprises as well as a haulage business. Like many other villages, Vrensted has a multitude of active societies organising various activities at the village hall, activity centre, the clubhouse of the sports club, at the school or at their own premises.

Børglum
The neighbouring town of Børglum is certainly not dying either, even though it is a village with a very long history. The name Børglum means “the road by the castle” and the castle is the royal castle which for centuries stood at Børglum Bakke. In 1086 the locals revolted against King Knud the Holy and his rough manners, drove him from the castle and burnt it down, and Børglum subsequently became an Episcopal seat and monastery.

During the Middle Ages, the village was owned by the monastery, which meant that the local farmers benefited greatly from the considerable knowledge possessed by the monks about the growing of plants and fruit. After the completion of the motorway, Børglum is now the first shopping opportunity for holidaymakers who arrive by this route. This has already benefited the grocery store, and perhaps it will make even more people want to live in Børglum in future. So far, the old Børglum dairy has been renovated and turned into a shop selling arts and crafts and gifts, while the old cheese-making facility has been turned into the most beautiful hotel rooms in the area. The old forge has been converted into a restaurant and function room, situated by the mill opposite Børglum Kloster. Børglum also has many recreational areas: The playing fields where the summer fetes are held, and Romdammen, which is a beautiful small park with a lake, and Nytorv which has become the place for young people to meet.

Poulstrup
Poulstrup is a small village with about 500 inhabitants. The village is situated south-east of the nunnery Vrejlev Kloster and the adjacent church that was built after 1160 by the Premonstratensian Order as a nunnery under the Børglum monastery. To the west of the village are a number of farms which during the Middle Ages made up a small hamlet which belonged to Vrejlev Kloster.
In 1886, the first cooperative dairy in Vendsyssel was built near Poulstrup, and a small community of service enterprises grew up around the dairy. In the 1950s, Poulstrup had approx. 25 local shops and service businesses. Today, only one grocery store remains as the locals bought the local supermarket which had been closed down in 2004 and transformed it into a grocery store owned as a cooperative. Also in 2004, Poulstrup took part in LandboNord’s trial project “Multi networks in rural areas”. In 2005, the citizens of Poulstrup decided to set up a new association with a view to keeping the project alive, thereby making the village an attractive place to live.

Tårs
Tårs is a town with a population of just under 4,000 and a large catchment area. It is a town characterised by growth and diversity with many small and many different enterprises within the construction, service and industrial sectors. The town also has a broad variety of associations, a nursing home and primary and secondary school. In 1264, Tårs was known as Thorse. It may be a sign that in heathen times, a religious wooden building was erected at the site for the worshipping of Thor. The name may be interpreted as Thors vi (Thor’s shrine).

During the Middle Ages, Tårs grew around a winding part of the main road between Hjørring and Sæby. The main part of the town was centred around Tårs church, a substantial Roman church dating from the 13th century. The church stands at an old crossroads where the road between Hjørring and Sæby and the old noble road between Aalborg and Frederikshavn meet. Originally, the village and the church belonged to Boller Hovedgård, but in about 1500 it was transferred to Hvidstedgård as part of a dowry for a daughter being married. Hvidstedgård kept it until c. 1850.

During the 19th century Tårs had its own school, post office, savings bank, village hall, mission station and cooperative dairy. The municipal office was housed in the old rural district along with a number of other facilities such as the district school, nursing home and police station. There were also several shops, a cinema, a hotel, brickworks and mortar works.

Tårs became a station along the private railway between Hjørring and Hørby, which opened in 1913, but this never came to have a major impact on the town. The growth of the town has not been dependent on the railway, but driven by the large catchment area.

Lørslev
Lørslev is situated at the heart of the municipality, 7 kilometres south-east of Hjørring, 9 kilometres from Sindal and 7 kilometres from Tårs. The village is surrounded by a gently sloping landscape which rises slightly towards Ilbjerg (with views to Rubjerg Knude) and falls towards the wide meadows along the banks of the river Uggerby Å. With a population of approx. 350, Lørslev is a lively village with a school, after-school club and bus connections to both Hjørring and Sindal. The village has a thriving social life with the sports club offering both football, gymnastics, kids volleyball etc.

2006 saw the completion of impressive new facilities at the school which comprise club, course and meeting rooms, IT terminals and a foyer and gallery corridor for exhibitions. Moreover, Lørslev has a modern school centre with a primary school (Years 0-7), an after-school club, a youth club and a kindergarten, childminders, playing fields, a newly designed nature playground with a bonfire site, a library, a scouts centre and a riding school. Being only 2 kilometres from the motorway, the village is a good starting point for commuters to Hjørring, Sindal and Tårs, and by motorway Aalborg is only 25 minutes away, while it takes only 10 minutes to get to Hirtshals.
For further information, visit   www.loerslev.dk

Astrup
Astrup is situated 9 kilometres from Hjørring, 5 kilometres from the motorway and 7 kilometres from Sindal. The village is surrounded by beautiful countryside in the form of a strongly undulating moraine landscape. Teglhøj to the east of the village is 93 metres above sea level and offers views across most of northern Vendsyssel. To the south and east, the village is bordered by the extensive woods around the old Bøgsted Hovedgaard.

The village has a shop, a kindergarten, a school (Years 0-7), an after-school club, a youth club (Years 4-7), a sports hall and playing fields, a riding hall, a village hall, a medieval church and parish centre, a mission station and facilities for the scouts. Another reason why Astrup has become an attractive place to live is again the unusually active social life in the village and the strong sense of community. Many new houses are being built in the village at the moment, both single-family houses and on larger plots on the north-eastern outskirts of the village. Astrup has succeeded in attracting a large number of small businesses, mostly within the building trade.

Some of these can now be found in the new business park Dalmarken/Dalvangen on the western side of town.
For further information, visit www.astrup-vendsyssel.dk

Mosbjerg
With approx. 125 houses and a population of about 300, Mosbjerg is situated in beautiful countryside near Tolne hills in the north-eastern corner of the Municipality of Hjørring. A number of Bronze Age mounds testify to thousands of years of habitation. Until the municipal reform in 1966, Mosbjerg was an independent municipality. About 6,000 years ago, the undulating terrain with the Eskjær and Bjørnager woods and the Møgelbjerg and Sorthøj hills was the northernmost mainland of Denmark.
The low-lying areas to the north were made up of bogs and meadows which formed part of the Yoldia Sea stretching across northern Vendsyssel, and fragments of boats dating back many thousand years have been found. Outside Mosbjerg is a landscape and agricultural museum, a department of Vendsyssel Museum of History, and the village also has a church, a small supermarket, a nursing home and a kindergarten and shares a rich social life, various enterprises within the building trade and a primary school with the neighbouring village of Tolne. Tolne has its own church, but also a continuation school, an inn, a campsite and a railway station. Nearby are Tolne woods and the pavilion which has been the venue for many gatherings to mark the Constitution Day and many other annual excursions for many families in northern Jutland.

Lendum 
The village of Lendum has about 620 inhabitants and is located in the south-eastern part of the Municipality of Hjørring. Lendum is situated in hilly countryside, and the streets of the village are characterised by a number of distinctive old buildings from around 1900. The village has grocery shops, a beautiful and simple spireless church from the late 16th century, a large community hall, an inn, a doctor’s clinic, a bank and a sports centre. Public services include senior housing at Vestergården and the village school (pre-school – Year 7) with an integrated daycare facility under the so-called “village scheme”. Apart from Lendum and the surrounding rural areas, the school district also includes the small village of Stenhøj further to the southeast.

Like so many of the other villages in the area, Lendum – as we know it today – grew up around a cooperative dairy, Lendum Andelsmejeri, which was founded here in 1888. Before that time there were only a school, a church and a poorhouse.

Outside the village you will find the manor house  Lengsholm which dates back to the 14th century.