Thyborøn

Facts

Fishing hamlet ramps up

By Svend Sørensen, Læreruddannelse fra Skive Seminarium 1973 med dansk og historie som linjefag. (5 stories)

The town of Thyborøn arose by the Liim Fjord, where the Thyborøn Channel runs into the North Sea. This channel, some 1,000 metres in width, was created by a storm in 1862. Since 1875, coastal protection has kept the channel open as a sea lane between the sea and fjord. In 1879, Thyborøn consisted of just nine houses. But up to 40 cutters fished from a breakwater by the channel from 1899, until the harbour was built in 1915-18. In 1899, trains started running between Lemvig and Thyborøn. The town developed in the 1930s, gaining a school of navigation and a seamen's home. Today, Thyborøn is one of Denmark's five largest fishing ports.

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Selected entry

Natural disaster was a winner

Story written by Svend Sørensen

Time / Periode 1825 2009

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As the name of the town suggests, Thyborøn was originally part of the province of Thy. Until 1954, Thyborøn belonged to the muncipality of Vestervig-Agger, but this was all changed by the forces of nature. Thyborøn and Thy had been connected by an isthmus since circa 1100. Over the centuries small sections of this narrow strip of land had been eroded. A more serious breach occurred in 1825, when the Agger Channel arose to the north of the present channel. By 1877 it had sanded up again. But in 1825 when the sea finally broke through the isthmus, seasand piled in, destroying the plant life on the fjord bed. The seawater killed many brackish water fish. Those who had turned a living from these species were now poverty stricken. Ultimately, contact with the sea was a boon for trade and shipping in the towns along the Liim Fjord, not least for Thyborøn.