History - Randbøl Hede and Frederikshåb Plantage

The painful loss of the now Swedish Terra Scania areas in 1658 slowly became apparent to the capital, Copenhagen and, in the 1700s, the capital began to look to “that part of Jutland", where an area the size of ​​Zealand had turned into moorlands plagued by shifting sand. Cultivating the moor was never successful despite several attempts at persuading first Danes and then Germans to settle in the moorlands.

Greater success was had in stopping the shifting of sand. In 1792, a royal decree was made for the systematic struggle to stop the shifting of the sand. The areas most plagued by the shifting and drifting sand were protected and, here, you were forbidden to graze cattle and sheep, heather peat was dug up and placed over the sand and marram grass – a metre-tall type of grass which thrived in the dunes and created shelter – was planted.

As the battle against the moorland and the shifting sand raged, the 19^th-century artists created an idyllic image of the beautiful heather carpet of the moor, turning the agenda upside-down. Now, the Nature Agency is tasked with maintaining the heather on the old moorland.

Geology

The basis of Randbøl Hede was formed during the Ice Age. Close by, you find the Jutland ridge and the ice margin where meltwaters ran across the area from a giant ice cave (east of the present Frederikshåb Plantage). The meltwaters created the flat landscape and left a plain with a base of sand and gravel. And with no vegetation to tie the sand, the westerly wind was free to collect the sand in dunes. Heavy storms also sent in shifting sands from the west.

As a monument to the work of the westerly winds, Staldbakkerne rise to 17 meters (Stoltenbjerg) above the surrounding area. The hills were blown here during a considerable sand drift thousands of years ago after the end of the ice age and again during recent shifting of sand in the 1600s to 1700s. But why did the sand end up here and form Staldbakkerne and all the other dunes right here? Why did the sand not shift further east? The answer is that damp recesses and fens caught the first sand, which later served as a shelter to itself and, thus, the dune landscape slowly developed.

Ancient times

Frederikshåb Plantage – Denmark's largest area with “røser”

With its more than 200 røser (“mounds of stone”) from ancient times, Frederikshåb Plantage is Denmark's largest “røse” area.

But what exactly is a “røse”? “Røse” simply means a pile of stones; however, the term is used both for stone mounds marking a grave, mounds of stones cracked or blasted by fire and to describe clearance mounds, which are stones gathered in piles in preparation for cultivation.

The “røser” in Frederikshåb Plantage consist of stones collected in mounds in preparation for cultivation and they are spread across a 10-hectare area. The size of these “røser” is between 2 and 12 metres in diameter and a stone mound may be up to 1.5 metres tall.

Only four of the over 200 “røser” have been investigated in detail. Here, shards of broken pottery, grindstones and other objects were found, which indicate that a settlement existed within the cultivated area. It is estimated that the settlements date to 800-300 BC - that is, late Bronze Age and early Iron Age. The settlements were made up of farms - in the form of long houses – which were scattered in the landscape. None of the four investigated “røser” contained traces of funerals. Three “røser” are clearance mounds, while the fourth started as mound of stones that had been used in cooking, but which was later covered with ordinary stones gathered from the fields – thus, also a clearance mound. Archaeologists do not dismiss the possibility that a few of the many “røser” may be marking graves.

The clearing of land for cultivation carried out by Iron Age people took place over many years. They would have had to let the land lie fallow for a few years after use and gradually expanded the agricultural area. The soil was cultivated with a simple plough - the so-called “ard” - which only furrowed the earth as opposed to today's ploughs which turn over the soil.

History

The Potato Germans

A few years before Struense became the physician-in-ordinary to King Christian VII, seduced Queen Mathilde, relieved the King of his power and, for a short period, ruled in the spirit of enlightenment, from 1760, other Germans came to Denmark: “Kartoffeltyskerne” or the Potato Germans. They were given that name because the Germans were the first to grow potatoes on the moor.

But why did these Germans move to one of the poorest areas of Denmark? In fact, they were lured here by the Danish state with a promise of free land and accommodation, free travel, grain seed, livestock and work animals, 20 years’ tax exemption and exemption from military service. In return, the state wanted to cultivate more of Denmark after the loss of the Terra Scania areas and, moreover, wars and bouts of plague had left many deserted farms and had allowed the moorland to spread.

At Randbøl Hede, three colonies were established: Frederikshåb, Frederiksnåde (named after the drunken King Frederik V) and Moltkenberg (named after the King's Council, Count Molkte). 86 German families arrived to take up the battle with Randbøl Hede but, a mere six years later, only 12 families were left. The rest had either been expelled because they were not suited for agricultural work or had left on their own initiative after a few years of battling droughts and cattle diseases. And animal husbandry is the key to surviving on the moor.

In fact, growing potatoes was the greatest success experienced by the Germans, as the yield was far greater than that of any other crop.

On the scent of the moorland farmers

The landscape of one’s childhood must not be tarnished. And when painters like Dankvart Dreyer and Frederik Vermehren painted the heather as "a beautiful carpet" (as referred to in Hans Christian Andersen’s poem “Jutland ‘tween two seas”) in the 1820s to 1870s, then the idea and the memory of a true moorland became that of a blossoming, purple carpet of heather.

In 1932, one of Denmark's largest inland moors, Randbøl Hede, was finally declared an area of outstanding beauty to preserve the open, heather-covered expanses, which the painters of “the golden age” had depicted so magnificently. The conservation order stated that the area should never, ever be built upon, planted, drained, cultivated nor fenced and that heather was never to be cut nor burnt.

That would be cut and dry, then - and the moor preserved forever, right? Alas, no. The moor and the heather are both products of the moorland farmers' struggle to survive in the harsh nature. And as soon as that struggle ends, the moor reverses to grass or forest. Only a sustained exhaustion of the soil nutrients will create the basis for the moorland to thrive.

The moor - yes, you can hardly believe it -  is not a uniform carpet of heather, but a mosaic of the moorland farmers’ various uses of the soil. Here, peat was dug and, there, heather was cut for fuel, winter fodder and thatching.

The Danish Nature Agency has therefore been granted an exemption from the Danish Nature Conservation Act and has taken over the moorland farmers' work of extracting nutrients from the soil. This is done by letting cattle graze the area, by cutting the heather, by controlled moorland burning and even by peeling off peat. The latter method is the most efficient and the costliest; however, in connection with the construction of the new Kirstinelyst Nature Base, the peat was used to cover the roof and outer walls which means that it will eventually become an entire heather landscape.

Hedeafbrænding. Picture: Gert Hougaard Rasmussen

Frederikshåb Plantage - the battle against the shifting sands

For decades, Frederikshåb Plantage, which directly translated means “Frederik’s hope Plantation”, was known amongst the locals as "Frederikshåbløs Plantage" (“Frederik’s hopeless Plantation”). This was no wonder as it took almost 100 years to transform 4.5 km² of Randbøl Hede into a forest. The idea was to stop the shifting sands which, once again, had become a problem in the 1600s to 1700s, because most forests in Denmark had been cut down and arable farmland exploited in full.

Frederikshåb Plantage is the most obvious remnant of the battle against the shifting sands. The work started in 1804, when Scotch pine and birch were sown in holes of one square meter chopped into the soil. Dikes were constructed, which demarcated the forest and created some shelter for the new plants. However, growing conditions for the saplings were harsh with shifting sands, frost, drought and pests. The annual growth of the trees was very limited, and the plantation repeatedly suffered setbacks. In the worst-hit places, 100-year-old growths were measly 60-centimetre-tall trees.

However, it finally happened and, today, the area is a beautiful and varied forest with a relatively abundant wildlife. The areas of common spruce stay healthy for more than 120 years and deciduous trees have gradually gained a foothold in a plantation which is becoming increasingly varied.

Denmark's largest area with “røser” was preserved thanks to the planting of Frederikshåb Plantage.

Convicts in Frederikshåb Plantage

Danish convicts - caught by the English - worked in Frederikshåb Plantage.

This requires an explanation: During the wars with England, the Danes suffered a major defeat in 1811 during an attempt to recapture the island, Anholt, and the English were left with 638 Danish prisoners of war. The English did not want to have to feed them and a gentleman's agreement was therefore made that the prisoners could remain in Danish custody provided they did not sign up again.

32 of the Danish soldiers were then sent to Randbøl Hede, where they built dikes and created fire breaks in the area that would later become Frederikshåb Plantage.

In the footsteps of the German

The marks left by the Germans on Randbøl Hede and in Frederikshåb Plantage are hidden and almost forgotten. But keep an eye out for the bunkers, machinegun-nests and camouflaged aircraft covers.

The story began in 1943 when the Germans found it necessary to be able to defend the German empire from an allied attack through Jutland. The Germans forced 800 Danes to leave their homes north of Frederikshåb Plantage before 1 July 1944. 10 km² agricultural land with 88 farms, 78 homes and 10 schools, nonconformist chapels, etc, were expropriated at the cost of the Danish state while 1,240 German soldiers moved into the area to build Fliegerhorst Vejle (Vandel Airfield).

The entire operation highly influenced both Frederikshåb Plantage and Randbøl Hede which were used to conceal the planes while fuel and transport roads through the forest to the new airfield were constructed. In fact, Rygbjergvej and Vestre Rullebane which traverse Frederikshåb Plantage were constructed by the Germans as a "runway" from concrete, along which the aircraft would roll between the airfield and the aircraft covers.