The Limfjord ( common Danish: ''Limfjorden'' , in north Jutlandish dialect: ''Æ Limfjord'') is a shallow part of the sea, located in Denmark where it has been regarded as a fjord ever since Viking times. However, it now has inlets both from the North Sea and Kattegat, and hence separates the North Jutlandic Island (Danish: ''Nørrejyske Ø'', which includes the old provinces of ''Vendsyssel'', ''Han herred'' and ''Thy'') from the rest of the Jutland Peninsula. The Limfjord extends from

Thyborøn Channel Thyborøn is a fishing village in Jutland, Denmark with a population of 1,890 (1 January 2022),North Sea to Hals on the Kattegat. It is approximately 180 kilometres (111 miles) long and of an irregular shape with numerous bays, narrowings, and islands, most notably

Mors Mors may refer to: *Mors (mythology), the personification of death in Roman mythology *Mors, Latin for death *Mors (automobile), a French car manufacturer from 1895 to 1925 :* American Mors, Mors vehicles produced under licence in America by the S ...

, and the smaller ones Fur, Venø,

Jegindø Jegindø, locally known as 'Jenø', is a Danish island in the western part of the Limfjord The Limfjord (Danish language, common Danish: ''Limfjorden'' , in north Jutlandish dialect: ''Æ Limfjord'') is a shallow part of the sea, located in ...

Egholm Egholm is a Danish island in the Limfjord The Limfjord ( common Danish: ''Limfjorden'' , in north Jutlandish dialect: ''Æ Limfjord'') is a shallow part of the sea, located in Denmark where it has been regarded as a fjord ever since Viking t ...

and Livø. It is deepest at

Hvalpsund Hvalpsund is a ferry port in Himmerland with a population of 649 (1 January 2022), located 20 km west of Aalestrup, 12 km southwest of Farsø and 25 km southwest of Aars. The town belongs to the municipality of Vesthimmerland Municip ...

(24 metres). Its main port is

Aalborg Aalborg (, , ) is Denmark's fourth largest town (behind Copenhagen, Aarhus, and Odense) with a population of 119,862 (1 July 2022) in the town proper and an urban population of 143,598 (1 July 2022). As of 1 July 2022, the Municipality of Aalb ...

, where a railway bridge ( Jernbanebroen over Limfjorden) and road bridge ( Limfjordsbroen) have been built across the Limfjord to Nørresundby, while motorway E45 crosses it through a tunnel to the east. Commercial ports also exist at Thisted, Nykøbing Mors, Skive, Løgstør, Struer, Lemvig and

Thyborøn Thyborøn is a fishing village in Jutland, Denmark with a population of 1,890 (1 January 2022),Oddesund Oddesund is a strait in the Danish Limfjorden. The Oddesund Bridge ( da, Oddesundbroen) spans the fjord connecting the mainland of Jutland with Thy. According to the Heimskringla, a battle took place in Oddasund between the Swedish king Jorund a ...

Sallingsund Until 1 January 2007 Sallingsund municipality was a municipality (Danish, '' kommune'') in the former Viborg County in the northwest of the Salling Peninsula, a part of the larger Jutland peninsula in northwest Denmark. The municipality covered an ...

, Vilsund, Aggersund and Sebbersund, and a number of ferry crossings.

History

Western opening

From the early Middle Ages until 1825, the Limfjord was only open to the sea at its east end. In that year, the North Sea broke through from the west and created a second opening, turning the northern part of Jutland Vendsyssel-Thy into an island. An isthmus of shifting sand has separated the Limfjord from the North Sea during historic times. The present inlet, Thyborøn Channel, has existed only since 1862. A passage also existed during the Viking Age. Based on place names and the geography it is thought to have been to the south of the present one, between

Ferring Sø Ferring is a village, civil parish and electoral ward in the Arun District of West Sussex, England. It is part of the built-up area of Worthing and is accessed along the A259 road west of the town - comprising North Down Farm and Highdown Hi ...

(locally still called 'the Fjord') and Hygum Nor.

Canute the Great Cnut (; ang, Cnut cyning; non, Knútr inn ríki ; or , no, Knut den mektige, sv, Knut den Store. died 12 November 1035), also known as Cnut the Great and Canute, was King of England from 1016, King of Denmark from 1018, and King of Norway ...

sailed into it in 1027 on his way back from England. According to Saxo Grammaticus it closed at some time around 1200. There are records of several floods piercing the isthmus during the 16th to early 19th century. On 3 February 1825 a flood pierced a permanent opening, the so-called

Agger Channel Agger may refer to: * Agger (surname) * Agger (ancient Rome), a type of ancient Roman rampart or embankment * Agger (river), a river in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany * Agger nasi, an anatomical feature of the nose * Agger Rockshelter, in Wisco ...

, in the north of the 13 km long and less than 1 km wide isthmus, the

Agger Tange Agger may refer to: * Agger (surname) * Agger (ancient Rome), a type of ancient Roman rampart or embankment * Agger (river), a river in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany * Agger nasi, an anatomical feature of the nose * Agger Rockshelter, in Wisconsi ...

, which had until then linked Thy with the rest of Jutland. The western part of North Jutland lost its road connection with mainland Jutland, but the towns and harbours in the western part of the Limfjord could benefit from becoming directly accessible from the North Sea, to the dismay of

. From the 1840s the western route became increasingly important, as Britain had opened for import of grain, and ships could return with British coal. However, the instability of Agger Channel made the towns of the western Limfjord look for a second option. In 1862, a flood pierced another opening, the

Thyborøn Channel Thyborøn is a fishing village in Jutland, Denmark with a population of 1,890 (1 January 2022),groyne A groyne (in the U.S. groin) is a rigid hydraulic structure built perpendicularly from an ocean shore (in coastal engineering) or a river bank, interrupting water flow and limiting the movement of sediment. It is usually made out of wood, concre ...

s, persistent sandpumping and two

road dam A road is a linear way for the conveyance of traffic that mostly has an improved surface for use by vehicles (motorized and non-motorized) and pedestrians. Unlike streets, the main function of roads is transportation. There are many types of ...

s along their inward (eastern) side.

Løgstør Banks and the Frederik VII Canal

At Løgstør, where the wide, western part of the Limfjord meets the narrow eastern section, the infamous sand banks of Løgstør Grunde were an obstacle to ships. Larger ships needed to be unloaded and reloaded when passing the banks. The Frederik VII Canal at Løgstør was completed in 1861 to allow for easier passage. Traffic had increased after the western opening at Thyborøn became navigable. The sand banks were finally dredged out in 1901, rendering the canal obsolete. The canal is now a well-preserved heritage site.

Plans for re-closing the western inlet

A 1946 act provided for re-closing the Channel with dams and sluices at Thyborøn, but this was never carried out. This idea re-emerged in 2005 and is now officially being investigated. It is thought that the isthmuses would be easier to preserve, and that the water level of the Limfjord would be more controllable. In periods of persistent western winds, flooding occurs on low-lying land and harbour areas in the towns of the western Limfjord, since the water can't escape through the narrow, eastern part of the Limfjord. Historically, a North Sea to Limfjord canal has also been proposed between Hanstholm harbour and Vejlerne (or Klitmøller and Thisted), e.g. by

Jørgen Fibiger Jørgen is a Danish, Norwegian, and Faroese masculine given name cognate to George People with the given name Jørgen * Jørgen Aall (1771–1833), Norwegian ship-owner and politician * Jørgen Andersen (1886–1973), Norwegian gymnast * Jørgen ...

in 1933, the engineer behind the project of Hanstholm harbour.

In literature

Limgrim legend

According to myth, a woman (in some versions a '' jötunn'') gave birth to a pig, Limgrim, which soon grew so big that its bristles could be seen over the treetops. It strolled around and dug channels in the ground. One day it reached the sea and water broke in. This would have been at the eastern inlet of the Limfjord, at Hals. The legend is also handed down in a medieval ballad with a Christian tint. In the ballad, the pig is summoned to a Thing by peasants to pay for the damage to their crops, and it is sentenced to the breaking wheel. The state environmental surveillance vessel ''Limgrim'', based at Skive, is named after the legend.

Limfjord poets

A number of writers of the Modern Breakthrough period (1870-1890) and the next decades came from the area around the Limfjord and often used it as a lyrical motif, or a setting for their prose. These include Jens Peter Jacobsen of Thisted, Johan Skjoldborg of Hannæs,

Jakob Knudsen Jakob Christian Lindberg Knudsen (14 September 1858 – 21 January 1917) was a Danish author, educator and clergyman. Biography Jakob Knudsen was born in Rødding, in the south of Denmark. Knudsen spent much of his childhood at Aggersborg ...

of Aggersborg,

Jeppe Aakjær Jeppe Aakjær (10 September 1866 – 22 (23) April 1930) was a Danish poet and novelist, a member of the ' Jutland Movement' in Danish literature". A regionalist, much of his writings were about his native Jutland. He was known for writings t ...

and

Marie Bregendahl Marie Bregendahl née Sørensen (6 November 1867 – 22 July 1940) was a Danish author. She is one of Denmark's most acclaimed authors of rural literature whose novels and short stories were written in a realistic, almost grotesque style. Biogr ...

of Fjends, Nobel Prize laureate

Johannes Vilhelm Jensen Johannes Vilhelm Jensen (20 January 1873 – 25 November 1950) was a Danish author, known as one of the great Danish writers of the first half of 20th century. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1944 "for the rare strength and fert ...

of Farsø and his sister

Thit Jensen Maria Kirstine Dorothea Jensen (19 January 1876 – 14 May 1957) was a Danish novelist and author who wrote under the name Thit Jensen. She is known for her short stories, plays, and socially-critical articles. For her writing, Jensen was honored ...

. Thøger Larsen of Lemvig belonged to the symbolism of the 1920s.

Johannes Buchholtz Johannes is a Medieval Latin form of the personal name that usually appears as "John" in English language contexts. It is a variant of the Greek and Classical Latin variants (Ιωάννης, ''Ioannes''), itself derived from the Hebrew name '' Yeh ...

in Struer was a prose writer and his home was a meeting point for many of the Limfjord writers. The house is still kept up by the Struer Museum, which allows visitors. Jeppe Aakjær's farm Jenle close to Skive, Johan Skjoldborg's house in Øsløs, and the Johannes V. Jensen Museum in Farsø are also open to the public.

Erik Bertelsen Erik Bertelsen (8 August 1912 – 18 March 1993) was a Danish ichthyologist, who specialised in deep sea fish. The fish, '' Diaphus bertelseni'' is named in his honour. He studied biology at the University of Copenhagen (1930 -) and in 1937 start ...

of Harboør is best known for the song ''Blæsten går frisk over Limfjordens vande'' ('The Wind Goes Fresh over the Limfjord's Waters'), a much-used "local anthem". The later ones of these Limfjord writers, along with a few others, formed the

Jutland Movement The ''Jutland Movement'' or folkelige realister opular realists were a group of loosely affiliated Danish writers. Their writing style, which dealt with the rural life of the Jutland peasants, formed them into a group. They existed around the tur ...

, which revolted against the symbolism of the early 20th century. Instead, they wrote social realistic prose, often about poor and exploited people in the countryside, who were a part of Danish society little known to the establishment in Copenhagen.

Biology and climate

The western breakthrough of 1825 changed the waters of the Limfjord from brackish to salty, with a considerable current from west to east.

Hypoxia Hypoxia means a lower than normal level of oxygen, and may refer to: Reduced or insufficient oxygen * Hypoxia (environmental), abnormally low oxygen content of the specific environment * Hypoxia (medical), abnormally low level of oxygen in the tis ...

sometimes occurs due to warm windless periods in summer or ice in winter. The fjord today has oceanic salinity, approximately 30

PSU PSU may refer to: Organizations Military *Police Support Unit, a paramilitary wing of the Zimbabwe Republic Police *Port Security Unit, a U.S. Coast Guard expeditionary force protection unit Political parties * Parti Socialiste Unifié (disambig ...

(or per mille by weight) at all depths. Many animals and maritime plants that can be found in Skagerrak, Kattegat and the North Sea can thus be found in the fjord. Due to its shallow waters, the temperature rises rather quickly during warm and sunny days from mid-April to early September. While in winter, ice can form faster during the cold periods, especially in bays with little current. Problematic ice conditions do not occur every winter. The Limfjord is notable for its tasty mussels (''Mytilus edulis''). Gourmets appreciate its

oysters Oyster is the common name for a number of different families of salt-water bivalve molluscs that live in marine or brackish habitats. In some species, the valves are highly calcified, and many are somewhat irregular in shape. Many, but not al ...

, which are considered to be of extraordinary size and quality. Had it not been for the western breakthrough in 1825, these mussels wouldn't grow as well as they do in the waters with ocean-like salinity.

References

External links

Limfjord information

The Limfjord Museum
{{Authority control Straits of Denmark