Odense is the third largest city in Denmark and the largest city on the island of Funen. As of 1 January 2023, the city proper had a population of 182,387 while Odense Municipality had a population of 207,762, making it the fourth largest municipality in Denmark. Eurostat and OECD have used a definition for the Metropolitan area of Odense, which includes all municipalities in the Province of Funen, with a total population of 504,066 as of 1 July 2022
The Odense River is a river located on the island of Funen, in central Denmark. It is about 60 kilometres (37 mi) long and is named after the Funish capital, Odense, which it passes through. Boats can be rented by the river, offering a scenic ride to Fruens Bøge. Excursion boats offer rides to Carlslund, with jazz music some Saturdays during the Summer.
Ringforts or ring forts are small circular fortified settlements built during the Bronze Age, Iron Age and early Middle Ages up to about the year 1000 AD. They are found in Northern Europe, especially in Ireland. There are also many in South Wales and in Cornwall, where they are called rounds. Ringforts come in many sizes and may be made of stone or earth. Earthen ringforts would have been marked by a circular rampart, often with a stakewall. Both stone and earthen ringforts would generally have had at least one building inside.
A Viking ring fortress, Trelleborg-type fortress, or trelleborg, is a type of circular fort of a special design, built in Scandinavia during the Viking Age. These fortresses have a strictly circular shape, with roads and gates pointing in the four cardinal directions. Inside the fort, each quadrant has one, in a single case four, square blocks of longhouses, completing the geometric symmetry. There are a total of five known Viking ring fortresses at present, located in Denmark. They have been dated to the reign of Harold Bluetooth of Denmark, with an estimated near contemporary time of construction c. 980. Their exact historical context is subject to debate.
Beeston Castle is a former Royal castle in Beeston, Cheshire, England, perched on a rocky sandstone crag 350 feet (107 m) above the Cheshire Plain. It was built in the 1220s by Ranulf de Blondeville, 6th Earl of Chester (1170–1232), on his return from the Crusades. In 1237, Henry III took over the ownership of Beeston, and it was kept in good repair until the 16th century, when it was considered to be of no further military use, although it was pressed into service again in 1643, during the English Civil War. The castle was slighted in 1646, in accordance with Cromwell's destruction order, to prevent its further use as a bastion. During the 18th century, parts of the site were used as a quarry.
Aggersborg is the largest of Denmark's former Viking ring fortress, and one of the largest archaeological sites in Denmark. It is located near Aggersund on the north side of the Limfjord. It consists of a circular rampart surrounded by a ditch. Four main roads arranged in a cross connects the fortress center with the rampart's outer ring. The roads were tunneled under the outer rampart, leaving the circular structure intact.
Fyrkat is a former Viking ring castle in Denmark, dating from c. 980 AD. It is located near the town of Hobro, some distance from the present end of the Mariager Fjord in Northern Jutland. The fortress is built on a narrow piece of land, with a stream on one side and swampy area on the other sides. It would have enabled control of the traffic on the main land route between Aalborg and Aarhus.
Montfichet's Tower was a Norman fortress on Ludgate Hill in London, between where St Paul's Cathedral and City Thameslink railway station now stand. First documented in the 1130s, it was probably built in the late 11th century. The defences were strengthened during the revolt of 1173–1174 against Henry II.
Figsbury Ring is an 11.2 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Wiltshire, England, notified in 1975. It is owned and managed by the National Trust.
The Trelleborg, west of Slagelse on the Danish island of Zealand, is one of seven known Viking ring castles. When built, the fortress was situated on a peninsula that jutted into the swampy area between two rivers. The swamp was connected to the Great Belt by a lake and could be navigated by Viking ships. Trelleborg is believed to have been ordered by King Harald Bluetooth in the year 980 AD and it might have commanded the Great Belt and its sea traffic, between the islands of Zealand and Funen.
The Bull Ring is a Class II henge that was built in the late Neolithic period near Dove Holes in Derbyshire, England.
Funen, with an area of 3,099.7 square kilometres (1,196.8 sq mi), is the third-largest island of Denmark, after Zealand and Vendsyssel-Thy. It is the 165th-largest island in the world. It is located in the central part of the country and has a population of 469,947 as of 2020. Funen's main city is Odense, which is connected to the sea by a seldom-used canal. The city's shipyard, Odense Steel Shipyard, has been relocated outside Odense proper.
A circular rampart is an embankment built in the shape of a circle that was used as part of the defences for a military fortification, hill fort or refuge, or was built for religious purposes or as a place of gathering.
Caer Bran Hill Fort is an archaeological site near Sancreed and Carn Euny Iron Age village, on the Penwith peninsula in Cornwall.
Alrø is a small Danish island in Horsens Fjord on the east coast of Jutland within Odder Municipality.The island is 7.52 km long with a coastline of 14 km, and stretches a little over 5 km wide from east to west. With a population of 147 as of January 2013, the island can be reached by road over an artificial causeway which connects it to the mainland on the northern side of the fjord. Alrø has been inhabited continuously since the Stone Age up to modern times, with possible additional usage during the Viking Age as a landing site.
Gamleborg, also known as Gamleborg Viking Fortress, was the first fortification on the Danish island of Bornholm. Built around 750 AD, it was the seat of the kings of Bornholm during the Viking age (750–1050) and early Middle Ages (1050–1150). The massive fortress is 264 metres (866 ft) long from north to south and 110 metres (360 ft) wide from east to west, with gates to the north and southwest. Around 1100, significant alterations were made and it was reinforced, but it was abandoned soon afterwards in favour of the fortification of Lilleborg, roughly 700 metres (2,300 ft) to the northeast.
Castle Rings is a univallate hill fort in the parish of Donhead St Mary in Wiltshire, England. The site is a Scheduled Ancient Monument. Castle Rings has been dated to the Iron Age and is at an altitude of 228 metres (748 ft) upon Upper Greensand sandstone beds. The bulk of the fort enclosure lies within the boundaries of Donhead St Mary parish but some of the outlying earthworks are in the neighbouring Sedgehill and Semley parish. In the mid-1980s a metal detectorist unearthed a hoard of stater coins of the Durotriges tribe within the hill fort.
Gladsaxehus is a ruined castle in Gladsax parish, in the Simrishamn Municipality of Skåne in south-eastern Sweden. The ruins lie immediately to the east of the church and cemetery of Gladsax.
Vesborg was a castle founded by King Valdemar Atterdag in the 1360s, on the southwestern coast of Samsø in Denmark. The castle does not exist anymore and a lighthouse was built on the site in 1858.
Borgring, older spelling Borrering also known as Vallø Borgring, is a Danish Viking ring fortress located near Køge on the island of Zealand.
