Hårlev Church

Hårlev is close to Stevns and is the site of Hother’s Mound. We know nothing about Hother, but because the mound has a flat top and is close to the church, it’s probably from late antiquity. It is said that the Tryggevælde Stone originally stood here. This stone bears the inscription: “Ragnhild, Ulf’s sister, raised this stone and mound and the stone ship in honour of Gunulf, he of the manly voice, son of Nærve. His like will never come again. He is cursed who desecrates or moves this stone from here.” So the text ends in a so-called evil curse and even though we can’t be sure what "ræte" and "ælti" mean, you get the clear feeling it’s not good. What’s particularly interesting about this stone is that it’s probably the same woman Ragnhild who raised the Glavendrup stone on Funen for a different husband. Both stones carry an identical curse, and were inscribed by the same rune carver. No one knows the whereabouts of the ship stone referred to, but the Tryggevælde stone can be seen today in the rune hall at the National Museum.