Sæby is a port city in eastern Vendsyssel with 8,871 inhabitants
(2020), located in Frederikshavn Municipality under the North
Jutland Region. The town is located at the mouth of Sæby Å in the
Kattegat, approx. 12 kilometers south of Frederikshavn and 50 km
northeast of Aalborg. It was granted township rights in the year
1524.
Today, Sæby is an upland village for a large part of
southeastern Vendsyssel and is an important tourist town that
attracts holidaymakers due to its beaches and the old market town
environment. In the summer, the city is visited by many yachtsmen,
who at the entrance to the harbor can experience the city's modern
landmark Fruen fra Havet, a 6.25 m high galleon figure by the artist
Marit Benthe Norheim, erected in 2001. The city's oldest landmark is
Sæby church, Skt. Mariæ Church which is originally a Carmelite
monastery with vaults with extensive frescoes. The oldest parts of
the church building date from the first half of the 12th century,
while the other parts incl. the tower dates from the 14th and 16th
centuries. Near the church is Sæby's old market and market square,
Klostertorvet (originally Gammeltorv), with the old town hall from
1810.
In general, Sæby's city center is characterized by
beautiful old houses and streets. The oldest main street is Algade,
which stretches from Klostertorvet to Søndergade. In No. 3 is the
Clasens Hotel, which is a half-timbered building built in 1750,
which in the 19th century got its neoclassical facade in yellow and
white. The hotel has been visited by well-known authors such as
Herman Bang and Gustav Wied in the latter part of the 19th century,
until in 1920 it was closed down as a hotel and converted into the
Home of the Ancients. In no. 7 is Den gamle Dommergaard, built as a
grocery farm in 1848. The author of the modern breakthrough Adda
Ravnkilde (b. 1862 - d. 1883) lived with her parents in the judge's
farm from 1881-83, where a memorial plaque has been set up for her.
. The city's second oldest town hall (and now also former police
station) dates from 1848 and is built in late classicist style. The
town hall is located in no. 14 and today houses Sæby Tourist Office.
In extension of Algade is Strandgade, which passes Sæby Church down
towards Havnevej. The building in No. 2 is the Old Hospital built in
1675 with a forecourt from 1565. The place served as a poor farm.
Sæby is today located by the E45 motorway and has a number of
larger companies affiliated, including Maskinfabrikken Skiold,
Danish Crown and Sæby Fiske-Industri. The town is an attractive
place for anglers who can fish in Sæby Å and from Sdr. pier. Today,
the former fishing port has been transformed into a cozy Marina with
recreational fishing boats and sailing ships side by side, fish
restaurants and shops. Distances to other cities:
Brønderslev: 38 km
Hjørring: 39 km
Neck: 43 km
Skagen: 53
km
Aalborg: 50 km
In Algade (no. 1-3), Sæby Museum is housed in a half-timbered farm
from the 17th century, Konsul Ørums Gård. The museum is a regional
museum, i.a. with a grocery store, an old boarding house and a
schoolroom from 1920.
Near Sæby is the manor house Sæbygaard,
which contains a manor museum with interiors from the 17th and 19th
centuries with silver, porcelain, damask and noble portraits. The
three-winged Renaissance building is surrounded by ramparts and moats.
Where Frederikshavnvej crosses Sæby Å is Sæby Vandmølle. The mill
was built as royal property in 1640 and was in use as a grain mill until
the 1920s. The mill house dates from 1710 and can only be viewed from
the outside.
Nellemanns Have is a garden of approx. 6 hectares in
Sæby, laid out in 1925 by land surveyor Nic. Nellemann (born 1892 on
Funen, died 1976). The garden has Northern Europe's largest collection
of paradise apple trees.
On Solsbækvej (no. 39) is Sæby Miniby,
which is an outdoor facility with a 1:10 scale recreation of Sæby's old
houses. It is possible to experience the work with the houses in the
facility's workshop. It is run by voluntary labour.
Approx. 15
kilometers southwest of Sæby lies Voergaard Castle with its
characteristic octagonal towers. The castle is a red-bricked Renaissance
building, the central parts of which were built from 1586 to 1591,
surrounded by Denmark's widest moat.
On the coastal stretch from
Sæby south to Voerså, there are particularly good opportunities to find
amber in easterly winds. Frants Kristensen, a 3rd generation amber
grinder, has established an amber museum in Sæby's historic district,
and he organizes "amber-finding tours" along the beach.
Sæby, which in older documents is
soon called "Sæbye" and "Seebye", soon "Maristed" after the present
monastery, was in the Middle Ages first a village and a fishing
village, which was under Børglum Bispesæde. In the later Middle Ages
it seems to have gained greater importance, perhaps perhaps by the
protection of the bishops, and had rank as a market town; at least
1465 an Oluf Jenssøn is mentioned as mayor of Sæby. Its oldest
market town privileges are dated 10 August 1524, when Frederik I
granted it similar rights as Viborg; they were later confirmed,
including April 24, 1562, 1597 and 1648. In 1525, Bishop Stygge
Krumpen granted a district court, partly using the Viborg district
court. As late as 1528, Frederik I affirmed all the privileges and
freedoms that were given to Børglum bishopric on "Maristedt, which
was formerly called Seby."
However, the city never gained
much importance, and it was probably at its peak when it got a
monastery in the second half of the 15th century. Mariested Kloster
or Vor Frue Kloster housed monks of the Carmelite Order and is
commonly stated to have been founded in 1469; but undoubtedly it is
somewhat older (possibly from before 1462). The monastery has been
considered several times with gifts: in 1484 it got a meadow by
Bredkjær, in 1493 two farms in Hugdrup and Sæby, in exchange for the
prior to hold two weekly masses, for Sankt Peders Alter, and the
same year a farm in Skiftved and a salt kettle at Understed Strand
towards the holding of a fair in Sankt Anne Kapel, but otherwise
little is known about its history. In 1536 the priori issued a
letter in which he erected a monastery, monastery dwellings, brick
barn and oven for the needs of the town, because the monks "could
not get what they could help themselves with for clothes or food."
However, the monastery seems to have survived for part of the
following year. Of the monastery, which has probably formed a
four-winged building complex, now stands only the church, the south
wing; the other wings had already disappeared by the time of Resen;
in 1683, mayor Christen Rhuus had a large part of the monastery's
foundation stone broken up and used for Sæby harbor. There must have
been vaulted passages, which from the monastery led into the church;
when digging in the cemetery one has come across one.
The bit of importance that the city had in recent
times was probably mainly due to its rich fishing, and its biggest
concern was then as now as its port, which has been exposed to
sanding and destruction by storm. In 1559 and 1562 the king
confessed to the town timber for the repair of the harbor (the last
year it is said that it had suffered great damage). On January 9,
1570, the first port statute was issued.
Sæby has had a Latin
school, which was established around the year 1550 at the
instigation of Bishop Oluf Chrysostomus and was abolished in 1739;
the school building, which was built in 1645 by mayor Hans Nielsen,
was located by the cemetery.
The city was
in great poverty after the Swedish War of 1660, and many residents
had left it. In 1672 the city had 670 inhabitants, in 1769 the city
had 483 inhabitants.
In 1769 it is said of the town in Danske
Atlas V p. 243 that there is a good opportunity for shipping, "when
only the harbor, which is clogged with sand and the bulwark almost
deserted, was again put in good condition". In a storm of 1792, the
inlet was completely filled with sand. If the sea has given the city
its most important sustenance, it has also often been an angry
enemy: older finds of piles, wells, etc. out on the beach testify
that the sea has washed away the eastern parts of the city, and the
church, which is now close by coast, has presumably previously been
located approximately in the middle of the city. The river's floods
have also wreaked havoc.
During the 19th century there was again progress. Industrialization
came to the city, and in 1879 an improvement of the harbor began. In
1899 Sæby Station opened, when the railway line Sæbybanen from
Nørresundby via Sæby to Frederikshavn was established. At this time, the
town was a particularly popular holiday and bathing spot, not least for
a number of Danish cultural figures.
Around 1900, Sæby had 3
annual markets: 1 in March with horses and cattle and 1 in September and
1 in October with cattle and sheep. Torvedag was every Saturday.
Of factories and industrial facilities, the town had around the middle
of the 1800s: 1 iron foundry, 1 cloth factory and 1 lime kiln. Of
factories and industries, the town had in 1872: 1 iron foundry, 1
tannery, 1 fertilizer factory and 1 lime kiln. Of factories and
industrial facilities, the town had around the turn of the century: 1
iron foundry and machine factory (36 workers), 1 wool spinning and
dyeing factory, 2 sawmills (of which the one operated by water power was
a joint stock company, established 1899), 1 tannery, 1 lime kiln and 1
machine joinery.
"Sæby Avis" (or "Dronninglund Herreds Avis") and
"Sæby Folkeblad" were published in Frederikshavn.
Sæby's
population was increasing in the late 1800s and early 1900s: 895 in
1850, 966 in 1855, 1,167 in 1860, 1,344 in 1870, 1,506 in 1880, 1,804 in
1890, 2,122 in 1901, 1,943 in 1906 and 2,092 in 1911.
According
to means of livelihood, the population in 1890 was divided into the
following groups, including both breadwinners and dependents: 176 lived
from intangible activities, 501 from industry, 286 from trade, 412 from
fishing, 116 from agriculture, 7 from horticulture, 248 from various day
laborers, 46 from their means , 6 enjoyed alms, and 6 were in prison.
According to a census in 1906, the population was 1,943, of which 175
supported themselves by non-material activities, 116 by agriculture,
forestry and dairying, 255 by fishing, 777 by crafts and industry, 365
by trade and more, 106 by transport, 77 were shopkeepers, 49 lived on
public support and 23 on other or unspecified business. Fishing played a
very important role; it was mainly plaice and other types of flounder as
well as cod and haddock that were fished; in the financial year 1897-98
over 20,900 dozen plaice and about 343,400 pounds of cod and haddock
were caught, and the yield had a value of DKK 37,855; there were, in
addition to a number of cutters, 12 open fishing boats. The largest part
of the catch was exported abroad via Frederikshavn.
The interwar
period
During the interwar period, Sæby's population grew: in 1916
2,138, in 1921 2,276, in 1925 2,325, in 1930 2,525, in 1935 2,747, in
1940 2,770 inhabitants. In addition, a small suburban development took
place in Volstrup Parish.