Geopark: Havsmarken and Skt. Alberts Kirke
Throughout most of the Viking Ages, an important trading post was located in a protected cove on the inside of the southeastern corner of Ærø out toward the Baltic Sea.
The site has not yet been excavated, so we don’t have the same amount of knowledge about Havsmarken as we do of the trading post by Lundeborg. We know that the trading post covered 150 metres along the beach and almost 300 metres inland. A lot of Islamic and Carolingian coins have been found using metal detectors, and they quite reliable tell the story that trading activity took place here from about 750 to somewhere in the middle of the 900s. They traded in textiles and costume jewellery, and metal craftsmanship occurred. However, what went on otherwise or what was traded at the post is still a secret buried in the ground.
About 500 m south of the trading post, at the northernmost end of the impressive coastal cliffs at Vejsnæs Nakke, lies a fortified area with an embankment and a moat and the remains of St. Albert’s church and cemetery. The fortification was constructed around the year 700 and was likely in use until about 1300. The fortification and the trading post are, in other words, almost contemporary and presumably closely connected. The church, however, was not built until the Middle Ages. The church was in active use until the Reformation around 1530. Then it was torn down, and the materials were reused to build Rise Kirke (Rise Church).