Its old section is located alongside a small river, Lejre Å, approximately 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) from its mouth at Roskilde Fjord.

[2][3] Gevninge is located 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) north of Lejre,[4] a modern-day town that is believed to have been the seat of the Scylding kings during the Iron and Viking ages.

[7] In the epic Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf, the titular hero travels to the mead hall, Heorot, the seat of King Hrothgar,[8] on his way to kill the monster Grendel.

While the tale is fictional, the anonymous author set the poem in the real world, and Hrothgar's seat of Heorot is thought today to have been located at Lejre.

[9] This has led to speculation that the author of Beowulf may have been familiar with the topography of the region, and imagined his hero disembarking at the site of modern-day Gevninge.