History - Jægersborg Hegn

Geology

The landscape of Jægersborg Hegn is characterized by moraine hills from the latest ice age which ended more than 10,000 years ago. The western part is the tallest and is located up to 40 metres above sea level, while Mølleådalen, a so-called erosion valley formed by melting water from the ice, is located only a few metres above sea level. The Stone-Age Sea - or the Littorina Sea - reached the steep coastline at Skodsborg when it was at its largest some 7,000-8,000 years ago. The north-western corner of Rundforbi is situated on the edge of a subglacial stream trench between Øresund and Furesøen.

Ancient times

In the Iron Age from 500 years BC to 850 AD, farmers lived in Jægersborg Hegn. In large parts of the eastern part of the forest, there is evidence of the earth having been ploughed with a so-called “ard” which was is use then and, south of Rundforbi, you find high-backed fields which emerged when ploughing was later done with the replacement to the “ard”, the wheel plough.

In Jægersborg Hegn, there are 75 ancient monuments, including two oblong burial mounds, 68 burial mounds and one cresset stone. Today, these monuments are protected, but the archaeologically enthusiastic Frederik the 7th, who spent a considerable part of the year in Skodsborg, had the majority excavated.

At the beginning of the last century, a local merchant donated 40,000 Danish Rigsdaler – which is about 4.5 million DKK at today’s value - to restore the burial mounds. On that occasion, the mounds became somewhat taller than originally and as the soil was collected nearby, some of the beech trees in the area, which were young trees at the time seem to be standing "on stilts" because the ground surface was lowered.

The largest excavation in Jægersborg Hegn, in which Frederik the 7th participated, was that undertaken in a Bronze Age burial mound a few months prior to his death in 1863. In the mound, a shield was found, which had a 23-centimetre-wide disc of sheet gold with a sun sign in the middle surrounded by rings. It lay on top of a bronze disc and is reminiscent of the disc on the Solvognen (“The Sun Chariot”) from Trundholm in Odsherred. In addition, there was a bronze sword, a bronze axe, clay pots and belt-hooks. The Bronze Age covered the period from 1700 to 500 BC.

The King was so excited that he would not leave the excavation despite the Greek King having come to Skodsborg Castle. Since then, the mound has been known as the "Golden Mound".

Par force hunting

Christian the 5th (1670-99) established a road system for par force hunting in Jægersborg Hegn, a form of hunting which he had grown to enjoy when he, as a crown prince, learnt about it at the court of the French roi de soleil.

In par force hunting, hunters on horseback with bugles and barking dogs drive a single red deer towards a hunting party waiting at the star-shaped crossing formed by several – for example five or seven - long, straight hunting roads. Here, the most distinguished person of the company, usually the King or his guest of honour, may give the exhausted animal the coup de grace with a short hunting sword known as a “hirschfænger”.

This form of hunting was banned in 1777, but the hunting roads are preserved and may also be seen in Jægersborg Hegn. Skodsborgvej, Køromvej, Mathiasvej, Blinde Allé and the western end of Domænevej probably stem from this old form of hunting.

Frederik the 7th

The popular Frederik the 7th (1848-63) loved Jægersborg Hegn and preferred to live in Skodsborg rather than in Copenhagen, where people frowned at his wife, Countess Danner.

In 1852, the King bought a country house at 123 Skodsborg Strandvej, to which another floor was added. Here, the couple lived every summer - the King in a tent in the garden while Countess Danner preferred the palace. In 1858, they expanded the accommodations with Villa Rex where the Sovereign was often in Council.

Frederik the 7th's other great interest was angling and he released carp into Skodsborg Dam, like a kind of put'n’take of his day. Today the pond is home to roaches and bream and the pond lies slightly west of Frederik 7.'s Sti (“the Path of Frederik the 7th”), should you decide to copy the King.

Countess Danner retained the place until her death in 1874. In 1898, Villa Rex became part of Skodsborg Sanatorium.

Traffic

When Kystbanen (“the Coastal Railway”) was opened in 1897, the people of Copenhagen could easily and quickly get to the forest and, until the mid-1950s, the area behind Skodsborg Station, where the paths were raked and made pretty for the holidays of spring, was a very popular spot for a picnic.

Strandvejen is one of Denmark's oldest roads but, before it became fashionable in the 19th century, the area between Skodsborg and Vedbæk was merely a dirt road that was often flooded. For this reason, one would drive through Jægersborg Hegn on Strandmøllevej to Nærum, round Rundforbi and would reach the road again at Kørom in the northernmost part of the forest - or vice versa. This is the origin of the funny names still used in Jægersborg Hegn.