Lejre River Vally

The hilly landscape was particularly suited to Viking Age settlements and tombs. Lejre River runs between two distinct ridges. The dwelling area was on the west side of the river along with the king’s great hall, today very close to Gl. Lejre village. The landscape to the west of the dwellings was used for sacrifices. Vikings stockpiled their gold and silver hoards in various parts of a large U-shaped valley with a running stream at its base. It was there that the Lejre Hoard was found in 1850, which today can be viewed at the National Museum. The dead were buried on the east side of the watercourse – with burial monuments on a well-defined bluff surrounded by water from Lejre River and Kornerup River.

The stone ships has only 28 of the stones remain, but you still clearly sense the tomb atmosphere when you stand in the middle of the best preserved of the original four stone ships at Lejre. It’s about 90m long and 20m wide – the largest on Zealand. For the Vikings, this type of tomb and/or monument symbolised the voyage to the Realm of the Dead. The site was used as a burial ground in the 900s – there are at least 55 graves here. The legends tell us that the Scyldings’ palace was at Lejre. And it’s precisely here where archaeologists have shown there’s a grain of truth in those myths. As a symbol of power, Viking great halls were built on a rise in the landscape, above the other buildings. It was the most central and important building in the whole of Viking society. Here, the king parleyed with his loyal thanes and entertained his guests. The large buildings, with the biggest being over 600m2, were rebuilt several times, and most recently here at Lejre of the Legends. Some of the halls and other buildings are today marked out in the landscape. The settlement as a whole extended over an area of approx. 125,000m2. On the flat plateau west of Lejre River – where Gl. Lejre village is today – there was a workshop area. More rudimentary buildings were found here, including a so-called pit-house, a sunken workshop cabin. The archaeological finds suggest craftsmen such as blacksmiths, bronze moulders, weavers and comb makers. Apart from the large central hall, there were a range of different buildings – some up to 42m long. These large buildings were private quarters for the chieftain and his retinue, and also for guests of the royal court. 

The accommodation area was separated from the rest of the settlement by a solid fence or palisade. This shows that only specially invited people were allowed entry here. The burial mounds Hyldehøj, Ravnshøj and Grydehøj loom high on the hills to the east. Of these three large burial mounds only Grydehøj has been explored. It contained a royal grave from the 600s in which the deceased had been burned in all his finery and trappings on a huge funeral pyre. Despite the cremation, small gold threads survived, which show he was dressed in expensive gilded clothing. When one enters Gl. Lejre from Gevninge to the north – the route legendary kings used to get to Lejre – the monument landscape opens out to the traveller on both sides of the road. Right to the west we see the now exposed Harald Hildetand’s mound. According to legend, he was the last king in the Scylding line. But this doesn’t fit with the knowledge we have today, as the mound is a much older, long barrow, built by Stone Age people, 5000 years before the halcyon days of the Lejre kings.