The city park
The church – as in many other places – is the oldest building in town. It stands on the western end of Søndersø town and was originally a wooden church. The church houses many truly exciting historical relics. Among these, the approximately five-hundred-year-old oak door in the weaponhouse must be noted. The frescoes are particularly worth a visit, as is the large, spectacular baptismal font, which is older than the church itself. This was presumably meant to be placed up just a few steps from the door, so as to keep the heathens from getting too far into the church.
The original Søndersø was a large collection of farms, concentrated around what today is known as Langebyende, and the main street down Odensevej. There can be no doubt that the area has been a good place to live, as there have been many findings / excavations of artefacts and relics from the Stone, Bronze, Iron, Viking and early Middle Ages. At the northern end of Søndersø, excavations have been made of a massive area with hundreds of cooking pits, perhaps the site of a cult?
Viemose
In Viemose in Søndersø Skov, a great treasure of Iron Age offerings has been found. In fact, this is Denmark’s second-largest bog find, with about 4000 relics. This anoxic bog preserved iron, wood, bones and antlers, as well as scraps of leather and textiles.
The largest part of the find consists of weapons, including approx. 650 swords, 1100 spears, 150 bows and arrows, 350 shields as well as one of the best-preserved chain mail suits in Denmark, made from more than 20,000 finely-crafted iron rings. Beyond this, there have also been many findings of personal objects from the fighters’ own belongings, e.g. belts, buckles, different kinds of household items, bone combs, striking steel, jewellery, a field smith’s tools, parts of Roman helmets and swords with ivory grips.
Recent research has shown that the Viemose must have been the offering site for all of Nordfyn. Offerings were frequently made after battles, where a foreign army must have passed by and been defeated by a Nordfyn army. Many of the discovered artefacts are of Roman origin, and can be dated to a period between the years 100 to 220 AD. (This is known as the Roman Iron Age). Offerings were made in the bog at least 3 times over a period of about 120 years. A “vi” is an old Norse word that refers to a sacred or consecrated site. The name Viemose therefore translates to “sacred bog”.
Did you know…
That Søndersø is an old adelby, a type of settlement known as an original village in academic writing. Søndersø was first mentioned in writing in the year 1180. At this time, it was recorded as “Sundrus”, which most likely means something akin to “Southern”.