Vejle is a large Danish town in South Jutland in the innermost
part of Vejle Fjord, where Vejle Ådal and Grejsdalen meet. With its
57,655 inhabitants (2020), the city is Denmark's 9th largest city.
Vejle is located in Vejle Municipality, which was established by the
local government reform in 2007. In connection with the local
government reform, Vejle became home to the regional house for the
Region of Southern Denmark in the office buildings for the former
Vejle County.
The town name "Vejle" is derived from the Old
Danish word wæthel, which means ford. The town is located by a
wetland, which in Viking times could be crossed by the Ravning
Bridge. The town was first mentioned in 1256, and the oldest known
market town privileges were issued by King Valdemar III on 16 August
1327 in Nyborg.
Archaeological excavations south of
Kirketorvet in central Vejle have shown that the area was built
around the year 1100. The king's castle, Castrum Wæthel, was then
where Vejle Trafikcenter is today. The monastery of the Dominican
Order was located in the years 1310 to 1531, where Vejle Town Hall
is located today. Vejle was first mentioned in 1256 in connection
with a large church meeting in the city.
The steep slopes of
the fjord on both sides of the city reach the greatest heights
around Munkebjerg, which is known as the place where the beech often
springs out first and heralds the coming of spring in Denmark.
Central Vejle was founded around Vejle Å and Grejs Å, and street
names such as Søndergade, Torvegade, Nørregade and Vestergade
illustrate quite well how Vejle has developed. In the 1930s,
Dæmningen and Boulevarden came to the west, and later the city has
grown up over the hills with the satellite cities Søndermarken,
Mølholm and Vinding to the south, Nørremarken and Uhrhøj to the
north and Bredballe to the east.