The Settlement near Henne Church

At the church in Henne Kirkeby there are info-panels about the settlement that was here during the Viking Age. Between 200312, archaeologists worked to try to understand the very special site at Filsø, because it didn’t resemble anything they had seen elsewhere in the country. The site probably emerged in the eighth century, and during the Viking era it developed into a highly structured and specialised production and shipment site. The built-up area covered about 7 hectares, but only around ten percent of this has been archaeologically investigated. The unusual thing about Henne is that the buildings were placed in a row along a road oriented north-south. Along the road lay numerous small workshops and production buildings. The few that have been excavated all contained loom weights, so it is clear that large-scale production of cloth must have taken place here. Towards west lay an almost unbroken row of at least 17 long halls, placed very close together over a distance of about 400 m – there were only a few entrances to the buildings from this side. To the east, a palisade at least 280m in length protected the settlement. The road ends at Filsø, to which, in the Viking Age, it was probably possible to sail along the river of Henne Mølleå. Here, the ships would be much better protected than out in the open North Sea. Goods from all over the known world were brought here: glass beads from Norway, millstones from the Rhine region, mountain crystal from the Black Sea, and Arab coins. And what did the traders want in return from the citizens of Henne? Probably amber, the gold of the north, which has also been found on the site.