Last month we spend a week in Kikhavn outside Hundested, Denmark. This is located on the Halsnæs Peninsula on the western part of North Sjælland, where the Isefjord Fjord meets Kattegat.
Parish of Thorup Church:
For a thousand years in Denmark an area was defined by the church and its parish. On the Halsnæs Peninsula there was one church, the Thorup Church, that was built in the 11th century on a site where the Vikings gave offerings to Thor.
Thorup Church
The narrow streets of Kikhavn
No cars, the toddler is safe!
Municipality of Halsnæs:
In the modern state parishes have been replaced by municipalities; from 1970 until 2007 it was the Hundested municipality, but was then merged with the neighboring Fredriksværk. After a referendum the inhabitants decided to name the bigger municipality: Halsnæs Municipality, which today has about 30,000 regular inhabitants and an unknown, large number of summer guests.
Well kept, a pearl.
Only three streets
Colorful gardens
Newly painted yellow walls
The name Kikhavn:
The name Kikhavn suggests that here was a harbor here (-havn), but that is not true. It seems that the villagers did fish, but from small boats they pulled up on the beach, as we saw when we were there. Kik- is probably from kikke or kigge, which in Danish means to see or look (out); perhaps to watch the sea.
A small boat has been pulled up on the beach, as has been done for many centuries
Kikhavn, a fishing village:
Kikhavn was one of four fishing villages on the Kattegat coast of the Halsnæs Peninsula. It is believed that the inhabitants participated in the herring adventure of Øresund as described by Saxo Grammaticum ((ca 1150- ca 1220) who wrote the first history of the Danes), in the autumn you could fish herring with your bare hands; trading of salted fish was good business, it was sold to catholic countries for periods of fasting. In the 13th century the arrival of the plaque and the little ice age brought stagnation. All this is speculation as there is no written records.
A nice detail from a window
I believe my great-great -great grandmother would have felt at home here
This is June 2022, believe it or not!
Kikhavn in the records:
The first mention of Kikhavn was in the tax-books of 1582/83, then there were 25 households and as a community they had to pay the king a barrel of cod a year, that would then be salted and used in the navy. In 1657 the villagers had 15 horses, 30 cows, 83 sheep and 47 pigs, they cultivated the fields around the village together, but the farms were located in the village. According to records in 1682 there were 24 households, who were so poor, that they were of no use to the king.
The Fire of 1795:
The history of Kikhavn is characterized by before and after 1795 and the big fire that burned down 17 of the 33 households on the eastern side of the village. The fire appears to have happened on 22nd May 1795 during a storm, but it was not reported in any newspaper, however a ballad was written about it. There are several theories about what happened: it was by mistake, or by a jealous, vindictive young woman or young guys who tried to smoke out a fox; whatever the reason was, the storm made it worse, it went out of control and half the village burned down. Many people decided to leave the sea shore with strong winds and instead to settle in Lynæs on the Roskilde Fjord.
Kikhavn is today as it was anno 1795:
This is what a village a Denmark looked 200 years ago: a village without cars (very nice), narrow streets without a path for walking people, so narrow that a horse carriage can hardly pass, newly painted yellow half -timbered houses reaching the streets, gardens with flowers in many colors and tall green trees, many houses with newly thatched roofs. We stayed at Kattegatvejen 32, surrounded by streets with ‘rose’ in their names.
Our wonderful home for a week, surrounded by the roses and their fragrance
Beach roses:
On the coast just 25 meters from the house there were wild pink roses with a wonderful fragrance that could make you intoxicated. It turns out that this rose is actually an invasive alien, called rosa rugosa or beach rose; originally from Japan but over the last 150 years it has spread in northern Europe. In Denmark it is often used as protection against the wind and to prevent coastal erosion; and importantly it tolerates saltwater. But sitting on the shore in good company, overlooking the sea and enjoying the fragrance from the roses, with a glass of cold white wine in hand, that is the definition of vacation and relaxation.
The coastal walking path from Kikhavn to Hundested:
Along the coast there is a path you can walk or drive your bicycle from Hundested all the way to Helsingør; we walked from Kikhavn to Hundested and on the way we passed the nature reserve to the west of Kikhavn, passing the Light house, Spodsbjerg.
The coastal walking path in the direction of Hundested
The nature reserve west of Kikhavn
Spodbjerg Lighthouse up close
Spodsbjerg Lighthouse from far away on the ferry outside Hundested harbor
The current lighthouse was built in 1907, in a place of an earlier one that was established in 1865. Until 1865 the people in Kikhavn had a side income from wrecked ships that did not manage the difficult sea of Kattegat.
Memorial of stones donated from all the settlements in Greenland that Knud Rasmussen visited
Knud Rasmussen's home and museum
Next to the Lighthouse is the memorial to Knud Rasmussen, the Danish explorer of Greenland. It is said that each settlement in Greenland that he had ever visited, gave a stone to build it. Further to the west is Knud Rasmussen’s English cottage which was built during World War 1 and where he lived between his expeditions to Greenland. Today it is a museum.
There is a wonderful view over the entrance to the Isefjord from the cliff with yachts coming and going. A perfect spot for a picnic.
The other towns on the Halsnæs Peninsula are much younger than Kikhavn. The first house in Hundested was built in 1835 and the harbor established in 1862, the ferry to Rørvig came in use in 1927. The first house in Lynæs was built in 1856, the harbor in 1872 and the church in 1901.
So, Kikhavn is some 900 years older!
Tourism of north Sjælland:
All the north of Sjælland from Hundested to Helsingør has over the last 100-150 years been changed into tourist destinations for Danes and foreigners as well, you see almost only summer houses, which in the winter is turned into a desert with very few people. But Kikhavn has avoided the tourist revolution that has changed the villages like neighboring Liseleje and Asserbo. Here has been a deliberate attempt to keep the cozy, authentic atmosphere of Kikhavn, as it was, as if time has stood still. No modern summerhouses inside the village. But of course, the houses are renovated very well, preserving the outside but inside all modern necessities. We stayed in an old renovated farm house.
This is an interesting place to visit, made even more interesting now that I know it's long history!
Thanks to the Library in Hundested I was able to obtain the four articles that recently have been published in the paper of the local historian society, Fortids Nyt, written by Søren Jessen (no. 107, 108, 109, 111) on the history of Kikhavn.
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