Ilse Made Spring

Facts

Holy spring in Bronze Age well

By Kjeld Borch Vesth, Restaureringsarkitekt, Kulturarvsstyrelsen (5 stories)

The Ilse Made Spring on the west side of the island of Samsø is a holy spring from the Middle Ages. By tradition it was visited on Walpurgis Eve (the night from 30 April to 1 May). The spring produces fresh water from the hollow trunk of an oak tree. The trunk has been dated back to the Bronze Age. The spring was probably originally a well by a Bronze Age house which at that time would have been further away from the coast. Today it is just a few metres from the beach. A legend links the spring to a Romanesque crucifix which was hung up in Onsbjerg Church. The original is now on display in the National Museum of Denmark. The spring is found by driving from Pillemark north around Vesterløkker and then to the beach.

Public place

Selected entry

Female corpse and crucifix

Story written by Kjeld Borch Vesth

Time / Periode -1000 1200

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Legend has it that a freshwater spring arose where a woman washed up on the shore. Nobody knew where she had come from. There was no way of telling if she had drowned or was already dead when she was thrown in the sea, lashed to a large oak plank. On her chest she wore a beautiful gilt crucifix, and so merited a Christian burial. But four horses drawing the hearse could not make it to either Tranebjerg or Kolby Church. Not until they turned off to Onsbjerg Church were just two horses able to pull the hearse. She was buried at Onsbjerg, and the crucifix was hung from a wooden plaque in the church.