At the turn of the 19th century, the English Wars made it difficult to transport firewood from Norway which was still part of the Danish kingdom.

To facilitate the transportation of firewood from Gribskov to Copenhagen, it was decided to construct a canal between Lake Esrum and the sea at Dronningmølle.

The work was led by Adolph von der Recke and carried out by local peasants, soldiers and forced labour workers.

One of them, Storedam (Great Pond), was the site of a watermill which was first used as backup for the gunpowder mill in Frederiksværk during the English Wars and later for the manufacturing of textiles for the army.

[1] Characteristic plant species include large bittercress (Cardamine amara), marsh-marigold (Caltha palustris) and yellow iris.