Nymindegab Museum

When a new natural gas pipeline was being laid between North Sea rigs and the mainland, archaeologists discovered an incredibly well-preserved Viking Age roadway that crosses the marshy terrain at Søvig Bæk, about 20km south of Bork. It’s one of the oldest preserved paved structures in Denmark. The roadway runs north-south and formed part of the route along the west coast of Jutland, about 15 kilometres inland. The first roadway was built in 761 from recycled timber, presumably from demolished houses and fences, using wood from trees that were felled in 741. The roadway underwent major repairs in 785 and 791. The final repair took place in 834, after which the roadway must have been abandoned.  It consisted of a foundation of load-bearing posts which had been hammered down into the ground, and a surface of wide wooden planks. It would have been about 3m wide and 50-60m long, with approximately 5m forming a freestanding bridge across the open water of the river. Around 100 posts were dug up for further examination – the route of the gas pipeline was moved to allow a number of the posts to remain in place for future investigations. At the bridge, a coin was found that originated in Baghdad in 771-72, but since it probably took quite some time to get to the west coast of Denmark, it is impossible to know exactly when it was lost while crossing the bridge. There is nothing to see at the site today, but some of the bridge posts are displayed in the museum in Nymindegab, where the finds from the excavation of the major Viking settlement in Henne Kirkeby are also exhibited.