4 o RURAL DENMARK 



capped towers are extremely massive, and often, as 

 in this case, constructed of large stones or boulders 

 dug from the soil and whitewashed over, in a fashion 

 likely to resist the attacks of time for very many 

 centuries. 



The church at Gjottrup consists of a long nave 

 and chancel. It is very neatly kept, but at some time, 

 I should judge within the last century, the floor has 

 been tiled so that all the graves which must lie 

 beneath are hidden. Or perhaps when this was done 

 the ancient tombstones were broken up and thrown 

 away to make place for the new tiles. In some of 

 the Danish towns I have seen these memorial stones, 

 many of them of great interest, that once were within 

 the churches, now set up against the outer walls, 

 where they are in process of destruction by the 

 weather. 



At Gjottrup, however, the beautiful carved and 

 painted pulpit and reredos, given, as the inscriptions 

 and armorial bearings show, by members of the 

 Gyldenstjerne family in the sixteenth century, for- 

 tunately still remain quite uninjured, save for some 

 nails driven in as supports for floral decorations. 

 Indeed none of the Danish churches seem to have 

 been injured by the violence of religious persons 

 at the time of the Reformation or subsequently. 

 Happily for itself, Denmark, unlike East Anglia, can 

 boast no destroying Dowsings of accursed memory. 



Also I visited the church of Kollerup some miles 

 away, which, although larger, is of much the same 

 character externally. What it is like within I cannot 

 say, as unfortunately the key was not to be found, 

 and time was lacking to send to the parsonage in 

 search of it before the only available train departed. 



