Søften

Søften (alternative spellings include Suten–1386, Suchten–1399, and Søwten–1489) is a small Danish town in Jutland, roughly three kilometers south of Hinnerup and just northwest of Aarhus.

The river valley, formed topographically due to Weichselian glaciation during the last ice age, and runs along the North and West sides of Søften city.

Damsbro Mose is a wetland area, with a very high water table, encompassing both banks of the river Lilleå between Søften and Hinnerup.

[3] The large marshland area is a mixture of rich fen, swamp forest, lakes in the form of old gravel pits and fertilized cultivated meadows.

In some of the finer parts of the marsh’s northern area can be found the wettest ground with a wide range of plant life such as obtuse-flowered rush, bottlesedge, two-ranked sedge, marsh bird’s-foot trefoil, European swamp thistle, lesser pond sedge, perennial sedge, meadowsweet, northern water hemlock, bog-bean, great water dock, great spearwort, ragged robin, globe-flower and St Peter’s wort.

[3] In the drier areas with small hillocks can be found an exciting lowflora such as star sedge and greater yellow-rattle.

[3] The open marsh landscape was recreated during the Second World War due to the removal of peat on a large scale in the area.

[3] In 1992, the Municipality of Hinnerup and the County of Aarhus (which no longer exists) began implementing various initiatives to safeguard the natural values of the marsh.

[6] Søften church consists of a Romanesque chancel and nave with two Late Gothic additions: a porch at the south door and to the west tower.

Church furniture of note, aside from the Romanesque baptismal font, is a pulpit dating from 1572-88 bearing the arms of King Frederik II and his Queen, a bell from 1656, an altarpiece from 1859, a sepulchral tablet from 1663 potentially crafted by the Aarhus carver Rasmus Christensen.

[6] After the Reformation, the patronage rights of the church belonged to King Frederik III until the 25.th of September 1661, when it was transferred to Morgens Friis Favrskov.

Soil samples were taken and utilized in pollen analysis in order to identify plant potentially incorporated in textile dyeing.

Metal detecting in and around the pit-houses at Søften found various including a dirham and iron objects such as a knife, a chisel, a pair of rivets.

[9] Stavnsager, a site in Jutland, has massive numbers of ildskørnede flints associated with the process of steam bending ship timber.