Bogense is a port town on the Kattegat in northern Funen with 4,059 inhabitants (2022), located 15 km northwest of Søndersø, 23 km west of Otterup and 29 km east of Middelfart. The town is the seat of the Municipality of Nordfyn and is located in Region Southern Denmark. The city's inhabitants are called Bogenser or Bogensebo.
Bogense (1485: Bognæs, 1492: Boghens. The name may come from the former wealth of beech forests).
Bogense is in Bogense Parish, and Bogense Church, which is actually
called Sankt Nicolaj Kirke, is located in the town right on the coast.
Unlike most Danish churches, it has the tower to the east, because when
around 1450 a tower was added to the Romanesque church, which only had a
nave and choir, you could not build the tower at the west end, because
then you would come too close to the coastal slope.
On Torvet
there is an old wooden water pump, one of Denmark's smallest houses at
just 23 m² and the town's former civic school, built in 1853. Adelgade
is the town's old main street with several merchant farms, e.g. The
brewery in no. 44, which has a Gothic basement with cross vaults and
building fragments from approx. 1420. In Adelgade, there is also the
warehouse on the corner of Kirkestræde and no. 54 with a toothed
cornice, both half-timbered, as well as the empire building at no. 56.
Other historic buildings can be mentioned:
Den Gamle
Købmandsgård, a long two-storey half-timbered house from the 17th
century. Rebuilt after a fire that destroyed the roof in 2007.
Erik
Menveds Kro, also called Landbohjemmet, a Renaissance building in two
half-timbered houses. The city's oldest house from 1543.
Bogense Town
Hall, which was built in 1847 in place of a dilapidated town hall from
the 16th century.
Bogense Toldkammer, Adelgade 1, from 1846. Not
changed significantly since.
Today, Bogense is a distinct tourist town with very little industry. The marina has room for over 700 boats, and residences, restaurants and other commercial buildings have been built around it. There is a holiday center and three campsites in the town, the two on the coast and the third southwest of the town center with a swimming pool. At Fredskov and Gyldensteen Gods, just under 2 km east of Bogense, Gyldensteen Golf was built in 2006, and 44 summer houses were built nearby. In 2013, the golf course lost the right to the name Gyldensteen and is now called H.C. Andersen Golf.
Bogense School has 546 pupils, divided into grades 0-9. grade. Of the
school's students, 99 attend the Kongslund ward 4 km south of the city
and 28 attend the Regnbuen special ward. Børnehuset Skoven with nursery
and kindergarten, divided into 4 children's groups, is located on the
south-eastern edge of the city close to Fredskov. Bogense Private
Children's House Sct. Anna is located in the middle of the city. It
started in 2011 and is rated for 11 children in the nursery and 22 in
the kindergarten.
Bogense Gymnastik & Idrætsforening (BG&IF)
started in 1914 with gymnastics in the winter and football in the
summer. Over the years, the association has also had tennis, athletics,
swimming, boxing, handball and table tennis on the programme, but now it
is a pure football club. In 1973, athletics and gymnastics were
separated in the Gymnastik- og Atletikforeningen Bogense, which from
2003 is called the Bogense Gymnastikforening, and the handball
department joined Nordfyn's Handball Club. A new club, Bogense Handball,
was founded in 2014. The Bogense stadium and sports hall are located
near Fredskov.
Bogense is today a tourist town, and there are therefore many
activities, including:
an annual rose festival
an annual language
festival, Sprogense
international cyclocross championships
As King Valdemar Sejr's property, Harridslevgaard with its adjoining 144 marks of gold is mentioned in 1231, and under this Bogense must have been included as a less significant village, because in 1327 Bogense is mentioned among the estates that the Swedish prince Erik Valdemarssøn, an illegitimate son of Valdemar Sejr's granddaughter Jutta claimed as her maternal inheritance, which was also awarded to him in Nyborg on 15 July.
The first time the city's name appears is 1288, when King Erik Menved confirmed its privileges; they were later confirmed 1327 by Valdemar 3rd, 1425, 1442, 1449, on which occasion its mayor and council are first mentioned, 1485, 1504 by Queen Christine (who expanded them), to whose death it belonged, 1517 (expanded again) , 1561 and 1597. There was probably a Sankt Jørgensgård for lepers in the Middle Ages; in any case, a Sankt Jørgens Kapel is mentioned in 1517, at which the mayor and a citizen, Claus Eriksen, got royal permission to build a water mill (the name was probably still preserved in the now closed Kappelsmølle on Bogense Mark); there must also have been a feast of Our Lady. At the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of modern times, the town was probably relatively significant next to Funen's other smaller market towns.
As late as 1618, Bogense was above Faaborg, Nyborg, Assens, Middelfart and Rudkøbing when hiring boatmen. In this great age, at least one noble family emerged from the bourgeoisie, attached to the city; it had its own farm, "Herregaarden", on Algade (it is not known where it was located). In the Count's Feud, the citizens took part in the rebellion, but when the royal troops came to Funen in 1535, the town fell to the ground, and the had to pay out 300 lots of silver in silver tax. In 1536 it had to pay out 2,000 guilders again. In addition there were devastating fires: for example on 1 October 1570 and 14 October 1575, when the whole town, including the church and the town hall, must have been burnt down (a royal letter of 1576 says that "as the town suffered great damage from a fire for a short time recently, so that the whole town, most of the Vaadeild, has been burnt", the buildings that were erected were to be hung with tiled roofs; in 1578 the command was repeated, and it was also ordered that the plots left desolate by the fire had to be built on again within 3 years).In 1576 and several times later it was also haunted by a violent plague.It gradually sank to become Funen's smallest market town.
In 1672 it had 438, 1769 430 inhabitants. In 1766 its consumption was
only 700 rigsdaler, while Middelfart's was twice that.
The town
has had a Latin school, which was abolished in 1740.
"Bogense Købstad in Skovby Herred, Ruggaards County, Fyens Stift,
is 3 miles from Odense, 3 from Middelfart, 7.5 from Svendborg, 7
from Faaborg and 4 from Assens. The weapon is a small ship with full
sails and the year 1565. The city's best privilege was given by King
Hanse's Queen Christine in 1514.
The church is a cruciform church
and is located by the beach with a tower on the east side and an
octagonal spire. It is called St. Nikolaj, built 1406, the organ
work 1748. The altarpiece and the pulpit are very beautiful and were
paid for by the well-to-do Magister Claus Erichsen in 1550.
The town has 5 streets and a large square, 104 farms and houses. The
town hall, which is a remnant of St. Annæ Kloster has a tower with a
bell. The authority consists of a town clerk and town clerk, who
hold the council meeting on Tuesdays. The town has 35 craftsmen, 60
citizens and 430 people.
From this town the crossing is
straight across to Klakring in Jutland, which is almost two miles,
thereby saving a detour of 9 miles, a boat costs in summer 1
rigsdaler, in winter 1 rigsdaler 2 marks.
The town's economy
consists mostly of breeding and a little trade, which is run by 3
merchants with grain and fat products in Norway and Copenhagen. To
the town are 5 vessels, a galley and four yachts of 16, 13, 9 and 7
burdens. The vessels lie in the winter harbor at Langedyb, which
runs between the two islands of Lindholm and Stegø, ¼ mile from the
town.
The fresh water is led into the town by a stream from a
spring at Overmølle. The town's fields consist of 81 farm owners and
some other pieces and meadow land, is fertile grain land, which is
grown and some carrots, which, because of their good taste, are
carried far and wide in the country and are called Bogense raisins.
Near the town are the following islands: Stegø, Lille Stegø,
Fogsnæsø ¼ mile long and half as wide. Two islets, namely Store- and
Lille Galø, Æbelø a mile from the town, which are inhabited by a
farmer and a householder, have meadow and forest.
Annual
consumption is 6-700 Norwegian kroner. There are two markets
annually in addition to the cattle market and one every Thursday in
Lent."
The harbor was built between 1830 and 1844 (previously there was none, but the city used the harbor at Langedyb as a winter harbour) and consisted of two roughly 1,000 cubit long stone piers projecting to the north-west, which enclosed the only 35 cubit wide basin. On the other hand, the ferry crossing, which had already lost its importance at the end of the 17th century, was closed down in 1854. In the middle of the 19th century, the first few industrial companies came.
Bogense's population was increasing in the late 1800s and early
1900s: 1,497 in 1850, 1,709 in 1855, 1,899 in 1860, 1,931 in 1870, 1,917
in 1880, 1,904 in 1890, 2,168 in 1901, 2.4 48 in 1906 and 2,747 in 1911.
At the turn of the century there were factories and industrial
facilities: 1 iron foundry and machine factory, 3 tanneries, 5 leather
tanneries, 3 woodcarving factories, 2 cement roof tile factories, 1
cooperative pig slaughterhouse, 1 cooperative dairy and 1 printing
house.
A newspaper was published in Bogense: "Bogense Avis".
In Bogense, 7 markets were held annually, 1 in February and 1 in
June, horses, 2 in March and 1 in May, horses and cattle, 1 in November
cattle and sheep, and 1 in December, livestock. Market day every
Thursday, with live cattle on the 1st Thursday of every month.
The composition of the population by means of livelihood was in 1890:
214 lived from non-material activities, 776 from crafts and industry,
363 from trade and turnover, 62 from shipping, 11 from fishing, 165 from
agriculture, 13 from horticulture, 185 from various day laborers, 86
from their means, and 29 enjoyed alms. According to a census in 1906,
the population was 2,448, of which 165 supported themselves by
non-material activities, 257 by agriculture, forestry and dairying, 85
by fishing, 1,121 by crafts and industry, 432 by trade and more, 202 by
transport, 117 were shopkeepers, 50 lived on public support and 19 on
other or unspecified business.
The harbor was expanded in 1874
and 1894, and a shipyard and various smaller businesses were
established.
In 1882, Bogense got the terminus of the Nordfyenske
Jernbane – also called the Bogensebanen – to Odense via Otterup. The
station had a water tap, turntable, shed and workshops. The track
continued a few hundred meters as a harbor track to a harbor track on
the north quay. In 1911, the town got another railway connection, as the
Nordvestfyenske Jernbane between Odense and Middelfart had a branch line
to Bogense from the Brenderup junction.
The railway was of great
importance to the city's growth at the beginning of the 20th century.
The town got an electricity plant, a gas plant, an iron foundry, a
brickyard, a slaughterhouse and a dairy. But the town's remote location
in relation to the main thoroughfares meant that the number of
inhabitants only increased slightly – from 2,747 in 1911 to 3,414 in
2004.
During the interwar period, Bogense's population was slightly
increasing: in 1916 2,707, in 1921 2,852, in 1925 2,857, in 1930 2,846,
in 1935 3,022, in 1940 2,928 inhabitants.
At the census in 1930,
Bogense had 2,550 inhabitants, of which 167 supported themselves by
non-material activities, 916 by craft and industry, 372 by trade etc.,
273 by transport, 330 by agriculture, forestry and fishing, 229 by
housework, 243 were out of business and 20 had not declared the source
of income.
The post-war period
After the Second World War,
Bogense continued its stagnant population development. In 1945 there
were 3,029 inhabitants in the market town, in 1950 3,133 inhabitants, in
1955 3,131 inhabitants, in 1960 2,968 inhabitants and in 1965 2,925
inhabitants.
Both the Bogensebanen and the Brenderupbanen were
closed on 1 April 1966. The station building at Vestergade 16 at the end
of Jernbanegade has been preserved and now houses the Nordfyn Museum and
the Bogense Local History Archive. A gravel road in Fredskov from
Kristianslundsvej to the northwest past the stadium and over Bybæk is a
remnant of the Bogensebanen route, and a piece of the Brenderupbanen
route has been preserved as a paved path between Ved Diget and Enggade.
The local authority
The parish municipalities of Grindløse,
Guldbjerg-Nørre Sandager, Klinte, Ore and Skovby in Odense County were
voluntarily merged with the market town of Bogense in 1966. It became
Bogense Municipality during the municipal reform in 1970, when the
concept of market town slipped away, so that Bogense became a
municipality in line with the others in Funen County. In the municipal
reform in 2007, Bogense Municipality was combined with Otterup and
Søndersø municipalities to form Nordfyn Municipality.
Bogense hospital was closed in 2002 and the buildings fell into
disrepair, but now it seems that homes with sea views are being built in
the area. Fiona Maskinfabrik, which had started in 1896 and made sowing
machines for agriculture, went bankrupt in 2013.
Nordfyns Bank,
which was founded in 1897 under the name Bogense Bank and in 1936 merged
with Nordfyns Handels- og Landbobank, still has its headquarters in
Bogense.
Bogense Plast started in 1979 as the sole supplier to
the cable drum factory Jojo, which had taken over the former iron
foundry. The plastics factory also had premises here until it bought the
old electricity plant at the harbor in 1982. Injection molding of
plastic parts was the company's main competence, but in 1995 it also
went into assembly and system deliveries. In 2001, it became the sole
supplier to the blinds factory Faber, and the company moved to Fynsvej
in Bogense's southern industrial quarter. A production hall of 3000 m²
was built here as a framework for 75 employees and 50 machines.
With the relocation of government workplaces in 2018, the Danish
Language Board was moved to Bogense.
In its report from 2008, the Infrastructure Commission proposed a fixed connection between Bogense and Juelsminde as one of three possible solutions to the congestion problems at Vejle Fjord and Lillebælt. This would involve a motorway between Odense and Bogense and a new railway between Odense and Horsens with a station in Bogense. The mayor at the time supported the idea, while others found it crazy and preferred a better road connection to Middelfart and Fynske Motorvej.