Hanstholm

 

Hanstholm is a fishing town in Thy with 2,136 inhabitants (2020), located in Hansted Parish. The city belongs to Thisted Municipality and is located in the North Jutland Region. The name comes from the fishing village Hansted, which is located at the western end of the limestone cliff that lies on Jutland's northwestern point. Hanstholmknuden is geologically the northern remnant after glacial erosion of the top over a large salt diapir. It is approx. 7 km long and approx. 3 km wide. The suffix -holm is due to the fact that the area was previously an island (islet), and the name was thus formerly Hanstedholm. The residents of Hanstholm are called "holmboer".

"Hanstholm" was gradually used as a common place name for the municipality of Ræhr-Hansted-Vigsø, which was named after the three most important localities on the limestone cliff. The municipality was briefly called "Holmen" and also included the areas south of the limestone cliff Sårup, Savbjerg and Borup. During the municipal reform in 1970, Klitmøller and Hjardemål as well as Frøstrup were merged with the municipality, which officially took the name Hanstholm Municipality. As something new, the town of Hansted was now also called Hanstholm. The area's other place names have been retained. Previously, the fishing village was in Hansted Parish, Hillerslev county, until 1970 Thisted county, 1970-2006 Viborg county.

 

Getting here

Hanstholm is difficult to reach by public transport.

By plane
The nearest airport is in Aalborg, there are direct flights from Copenhagen and Amsterdam.

By train
For rail travellers, the nearest train station is Thisted, 20km away. From there there is a bus connection to Hanstholm, which also transports bicycles (depending on space).

In the street
From Flensburg there are three minor options for driving to Hanstholm:

E 45 and road 29 via Aarhus, Randers and Fjerritslev, 348 km
E 45 and road 18 via Herring, Holstebro and Hurup, 323 km
E 45 and road 18, 34 and 26 via Herring, Skive and Thisted 316 km.

By boat
Hanstholm no longer has a ferry service, the Iceland ferry, which departed from Hanstholm for decades, has now been relocated to Hirtshals, since the port is easier to approach there even in bad weather.

Pleasure boats find berths in Hirtshals Harbour.

By bicycle
Several long-distance cycle routes run through Hanstholm:
North Sea Cycle Route (EuroVelo 12).
the National Cycle Route 1, otherwise largely identical to the North Sea Cycle Route, takes a different route here in the north-west corner of Jutland
National Cycle Route 2 crosses the country from Hanstholm to Copenhagen

 

Getting around

Hanstholm consists of two parts: the harbor below the ridge and the place on top of it. In between you have to overcome quite a few meters in altitude.

Parking spaces are usually found where you need them.

 

Sights

Hanstholm Fyr. Hanstholm Lighthouse was the first lens lighthouse in Denmark, built in 1843 and electrified in 1889. It is also the highest lighthouse in Denmark, 23 m high and also located high up on the ridge you can see it far out in the North Sea with its light height of 65 m. Today the lighthouse is fully automated, and the tourist information is located in the former lighthouse keeper's house. Open: Visitable all year round.
Bunkermuseum Hanstholm, Molevej 29. Tel.: +45 97 96 17 36, e-mail: info@museumscenterhanstholm.dk. The facility consists of three gun emplacements, which are connected to a narrow-gauge railway specially designed for ammunition transport. The exterior is freely accessible, while the museum building offers access (for a fee) inside a gun emplacement where numerous rooms have been reconstructed. In addition, in these bunkers, as in the adjacent museum building, there is very detailed information about the war years in Denmark, the development and expansion of the Atlantic Wall in Denmark and life in the bunkers. Not only those interested in the military will be drawn here; the museum is also a classic pilgrimage destination for Olsen Gang fans, since the film "The Olsen Gang Goes to Jutland" was shot here and in the surrounding area in 1971. In contrast to the film, the gun positions are not connected to the bunkers on the beach. These bunkers can also be walked on (bring a good flashlight), they are freely accessible all year round. Open: Exhibition: Feb-May 10am-4pm, Jun-Aug 10am-5pm, Sept-1st Nov. 10am-4pm, Nov./Dec. closed. Price: adults 80 kr., children 30 kr
bunkers. In addition to the bunker museum, there are numerous other bunker facilities around Hanstholm that are freely accessible, e.g. T. further inland, like the bunkers south of the city, but also directly on the waterline or partly washed over by the water like on the northern beaches of the city.
More Olsen Gang locations. First and foremost, these would be the bunkers on the beach, which are not in Hanstholm itself, but further east in Vigsø. The road to Vigsø is signposted, follow the sign "Stranden" in the village itself. Hamborg is a small town on the road from Hanstholm to Vigsø. If you follow the "Stranden" sign there, you will come to the exact path that connects the premises of the scrap dealer "Mads Madsen" with the bunkers in the film.
Hanstholm Game Reserve. Bird paradise west of the village.

 

Shopping

1 shopping mall. Shopping in Hanstholm is largely concentrated in the central shopping center in the middle of town. Here is a mini-mall, which, in addition to a bakery, butcher and pub, houses a limited range of clothing stores, a supermarket and other shops for everyday needs.
2 Fakta Supermarket, Bytorvet 3. Tel.: +45 43 86 43 86. Open: Daily 8am - 9pm.
There is also a supermarket and shops for fishing and boating in the port area.

 

Hotels

Hanstholm Camping, Hamborgvej 95. Tel.: +45 97 96 51 98, E-Mail: info@hanstholm-camping.dk.
Hanstholm Seemannsheim & Hotel, Kai Lindbergs Gade 71 (am Hafen). Tel.: +45 97 96 11 45.
Hotel Hanstholm, Chr. Hansens Vej 2. Tel.: +45 97 96 10 44. War ebenfalls Drehort (Quartier von Karin und Rico).

 

History

In 1843, Denmark's largest and most powerful lighthouse (Hanstholm Lighthouse) was built on Hanstholm with a lighthouse keeper's residence, just as there was a rescue station. The population lived off agriculture and fishing.

In 1917, the Riksdag decided to build a harbor in Hansted. The leader of the project was engineer Jørgen Fibiger. Due to scarce appropriations, the port was not completed before World War II. The occupying forces stopped the construction of the harbor in 1942.

During the war, extensive fortifications were built in Hansted (Verteidigungsbereich Hansted). A similar plant was built in Southern Norway Battery Vara (Møvik Fort). Together they were to master the entrance through the Skagerrak to the Kattegat. An area in the middle where the cannons did not reach was blocked by naval mines. At the same time, the inhabitants of the area were evacuated from the site, and it took several years after the end of World War II before they could return. The largest cannons, 38 cm, were of the same type as the Tirpitz position (not completed) at Blåvand, however, the piles were of a different type.

After the war, the harbor construction was confirmed by the Folketing after major political discussions. It was started in 1960 and in 1967 the fishing port could be opened, while the traffic port came later. In parallel with the port construction, an urban planning took place, which was completed in 1966. As there was great uncertainty about the future urban development, the urban plan was designed so that an area for center purposes and public buildings was laid out closest to the harbor. In the immediate vicinity of this, the east of a larger residential area was laid around an east-west axis, as the expansion of the residential area was assumed to take place quarterly as the housing need increased, thereby ensuring that the city was functional regardless of size. Stage sketches were made for 1500-2000, 2400-3500, 3,400-4,800 and 4,500-6000 inhabitants. Farthest to the east and separated from the residential area by an access road from the hinterland to the port, an industrial area was laid out.

From 1949, a nature reserve was laid out as a game reserve south of the city; today, the Hanstholm reserve is Denmark's largest nature reserve and part of Denmark's first national park, National Park Thy.

Hanstholm is thus both a city, an old name for a limestone cliff and the name of a former municipality by the North Sea. During the municipal reform in 2007, the municipality was merged with two other municipalities and thereby disappeared as an independent municipality, as it is now part of Thisted Municipality.

 

The port

Until the autumn of 2008, the company Fjord-Line's ferries sailed from the port to western Norway (Egersund, Haugesund and Bergen). Fjord-Line's fast ferry Fjord Cat (formerly MasterCat and Mads Mols) sailed to Kristiansand. until October 2009.

There has also previously been a ferry connection to both the Faroe Islands and Iceland from Hanstholm with the ferry Norröna owned by the Faroese shipping company Smyril Line. But after about 20 years, where the ferry from the Faroe Islands and Iceland regularly called at the city's port, Smyril Line chose a little unexpectedly to stop all its sailing to Hanstholm in the autumn of 2010 and instead move all its operations in Denmark to Hirtshals about 140 km north.

With the loss of the ferry to the Faroe Islands and Iceland, Hanstholm harbor also lost its last ferry connection to the city, but hard work is still being done to establish a new ferry route abroad and to get some of the old routes back to Hanstholm harbor.

 

Known to the public

During World War II, Hanstholm was heavily fortified with a myriad of bunkers and a heavy coastal battery. Some of the remains can be seen in Bunkermuseum Hanstholm. On the coast between Hanstholm and Vigsø is an extra bunker facility with 17-cm cannons.

The cannon position from World War II was the starting point for the film The Olsen Gang in Jutland. The corresponding Norwegian film Olsen Banden tar Gull was shot at the opposite cannon position, Møvik fort (Batteri Vara) near Kristiansand.

The sea hero Niels Juel spent his childhood on the farm Nørtorp. South of the farm is the old rampart. The highest points in the area are Hjertebjerg Høj and Baun Høj. In Sårup there are four protected giant mounds. There are many plowed giant mounds on Hanstholmen. In addition, there are a number of settlements from the Iron Age.