The Ellingå Ship
In Bangsbo you will find the unique Ellingå Ship which is placed in the fine naval exhibition. The ship has been dated to 1163 which means that it is from the early Middle Ages. The building method, however, its form and function has a lot in common with the method we recognized in the merchant ships from the Viking Age. The Ellingå Ship reveals that the Nordic type of ships developed further and was in use for a long time. Therefore we also call it the Viking ship form the Middle Ages.
Discovered and rediscovered
In the autumn of 1922 a digging crew was working in a field near Elling, a village situated 5 km north west of Frederikshavn. While they were digging – preparing for new railway bridge – they suddenly came across planks and frames from a clinker-built ship. The find aroused a good deal of interest.
The digging stopped and an expert from the National Museum was summoned. The expert did not think it was a Viking ship which would have meant a high level of interest. The ship was then covered again – thereby leaving it in a natural state in the ground. The ship was covered, the bridge across the stream was built and the trains started running. The Ellingå Ship was hidden and forgotten for the next 30 years.
During the 1950s new knowledge made it possible to date the Ellingå Ship back to the early Middle Ages (1050-1350) from pictures taken in 1922. In addition the Voerså-rudder (dated to the 10th century) was handed over to Bangsbo Museum after which attempts were made to find the related ship – without luck. Instead it caused a renewed interest for the Ellingå Ship. Now there was a good reason for starting digging again in the field near Elling Å.
To begin with the ship had to be found again which appeared to harder than expected. The first test excavation gave no result. The reason for this was that the ship actually was on the other side of the stream which they found out when they had a closer look at the notes from the first excavation. The real location of the ship was found and confirmed i 1963. When finances had been raised and the location of the ship had been determined planning for moving the ship from Elling Å could begin. The Elling Å ship was lifted up from the stream by means of a crane on the railway bridge in 1968.
From here it was taken to the farm building in Bangsbo where it was preserved by sprinkling it with polyethylene glycol over a period of several years.
The exhibition of the Elling Å Ship was not ready until 1972.
The Ellingå ship is a well-preserved and unique example of the Nordic clinker-built boats - a boat-building tradition that has just been included on UNESCO's list of intangible cultural heritage of humanity.
