MØLEN
A part of the world’s largest natural monuments from the last ice age
HISTORY × GEOLOGY × FAUNA × VIKINGS × OUTDOORS
Magical and Mysterious
If you’d like to experience one of the most historic and fascinating coastal areas in Scandinavia, you can travel to the majestic pebble beach of Mølen.
Mølen is a part of the Ra Moraine, a large end moraine that extends around the whole of Scandinavia. End moraines are ridges of unsorted material including stones, sand, gravel and clay, which were deposited by a glacier.
“Time is Us”
Image above: There is an outdoor info centre at Mølen, showing different kinds of stones and telling about the area's unique geological and cultural history. A part of the world’s largest natural monuments from the last ice age
The Ra Moraine was formed during the last Ice Age. The Ice Age was at its coldest about 20,000 years ago. Then, the ice sheet covered the entire Scandinavian Peninsula, and the ice front extended all the way down into Denmark and Germany.
The weight of the ice depressed the land way down. Fortunately, the climate became warmer, and the ice melted back. The Ra morain is the result after the ice standing more or less still in a period of 300 years.
Mølen was formed in the edge of the ice sheet between 12,650 to 12,350 years ago. A large pile of different rocks, boulders, sand and clay was deposited and later reworked by sea and wave action.
““There comes a time when those
who remembered me are forgotten” ”
What is Mølen?
Where?
Mølen is the name of a part of the stunning coastline between Helgeroa and Nevlunghavn. It has spectacular burial mounds, exciting rocks landscape, the country's largest pebble beach, and a wonderful walking area including coastal path that winds through the area.
Mølen is the southwestern tip of Brunlanes peninsula, which is the southern end of Vestfold, stretching out into Skagerrak. This is reckoned to be the number one site in Norway for migrating landbirds in autumn. When conditions are right, the early morning rush of birds can be breathtaking. Mølen can be worth a visit at any time of year.
““Is it your opinion, Winston, that the past has real existence?”
Wonderful experiences - all year around.
Mølen is wonderful! Whether you arrive in the springtime or visit the enormous boulder covered beach during a wild autumn storm or even on a bitterly cold winter day, whether it is sunshine or moonshine, this place has a unique atmosphere.
When the sea demonstrates its fury, you can hear nature´s forces at work: the waves shifting the millions of small and large rocks that constitute this unique nature reserve.
Sounds and site you will never forget
Mølen is a majestic place in all weather and all seasons and perhaps it is even the most impressive being here on a day of extremely windy weather. Storm, sun, and rain interchanging provide fantastic lighting. It is never quiet in Mølen. With Skagerrak Sea right outside, there is always wind in the air and always waves crashing against the shore.
During the day, the swells turn sharply and you can hear the powerful water rumble. The fascinating sound is the rolling of the boulders under the water pulled by the currents. It is impressive that such a powerful sound comes from under the sea and can still be heard from the beach. You won’t ever forget the visual and sound impression from Mølen.
Wildflower Mayhem
The area has a unique nature, botany and geology. It is fascinating to see such a large floral wealth side by side with the pebble beach and the sea. local flora and fauna are also unusual.
Prickly sloeand briar scrub and other windblown bushes and trees struggle to get a foothold in the sandy soil. If you visit Mølen in late spring (May) you will be treated with some wonderful wildflowers, and not just a few!
Hiking Mølen
Mølen is a beautiful nature area right out on the coast, with an interesting history and fine walking possibilities. Hiking in Mølen is a nature experience like no other. You get the best of the wonderful coastal scenery, magical forests, and historic landscapes rich in culture.
Tips hiking: Saltstein - permian volcanic rocks
If you leave the boulders at the shore and head along the blue marked coast trail northeastwards, you will see black rock formations, some of them with white spots. These are Permian volcanic rocks, once flowing out from large volcanoes.
Just east of the cobblestone beach the landscape reflects a very different history than Ice Age moraine formation. The smooth, rounded rocks here are made of basalt, a result of volcanic activity roughly 300 million years ago.
The ultramafic, for the most lava flows where formed while the Oslo Rift opened up. 301 million years ago. These rocks are rare on a global basis, since they are the result of partial melting of metasomatized lithospheric mantle.The white minerals are mainly albite, sometimes calcite.
Birdwatching
Mølen is also Norway´s largest landing stage for migratory birds. In the course of one autumn season more than 1.5 million birds were observed, altogether 320 species. Birdlife in Mølen is pretty extreme at times. That is the reason why this area is considered one of Norway’s best birding locations, particularly during the autumn migration.
Although the spring migration is not as extensive, this time of year is really worth a visit as well. The composition of bird species is usually somewhat different at that time than in the autumn. From mid-May through mid-June, oftentimes rare species will show up
Mølen Bird Conservation Area - the birds' main airport.
Mølen is one of the most important bird migration sites in spring and autumn. Mølen Ornithology station was established in 1976 by amateur ornithologists in Vestfold to monitor bird migration at one of the most interesting localities along the Norwegian coast.
Mølen Bird Conservation Area.
Ornithologists monitor bird drawing, recording, and ring marking birds. Mølen has every right to be called the birds' main airport. No other Norwegian station has registered as many different bird species.
Therefore, it comes as no surprise that Mølen is a listed nature reserve and was also declared Norway´s first UNESCO European Geopark in 2008.
A Mysterious Riddle
What have our ancestors symbolized on Mølen, or tried to signal to the outside world and perhaps the universe gods on Mølen? Experts are not quite sure what traditions were related to Mølen, and it remains an enigma and a mystery what burial mounds include, but archaeologists and experts are in no doubt that this is the burial mounds for a large family.
These graves have a strategic location with expansive views of the countryside and the major works that sea and landmarks. You do not get such monumental tombs without basis in wealth and power. The smaller mounds are perhaps symbols of warriors who fell in sea battles or shipwrecked along with their chiefs.
Nearly all mounds have one or more grooves, which possibly show earlier pirate-like grave robberies, looting, or so-called mound breaches. Mound breaches involve performing a ritual removal of the dead, but researchers are uncertain of the reason. It may also be that the mounds are built with an emphasis on purpose, but they are, so no one has a natural explanation for it.
The youngest mounds probably originated from this era, but cairns located higher up on the beach may be older. Maybe the site has been used as a burial place for two thousand years.
The mysterious burial mounds
One of the attractions of Mølen is the unique area of burial mounds. Each cairn, small and large, is secretive and mysterious because many puzzles remain to be solved for us to see the full picture of why they were built and what they contain.
Norway’s most spectacular gravesite
Around 1500 BC, the custom of burying individuals in large burial mounds arose. The cairns were placed on the tops of the ridge above the beach, close to the sky and overlooking the ocean or waterway. The boulder moraine on Mølen was the perfect place for our ancestors to build tombs: Good views of the dead and plenty of building material.
Magical Mølen. Mølen is powerful and dramatic, with powerful waves and foam spray that kicks in from the wide open sea, towards the large pebble beach that has the greatest fate for pebbles in Norway. Mølen is also mysterious with all its mysterious burial mounds and the ship-shaped mounds from the Iron Age and the Bronze Age.
Burial mounds located on the surfaces of individual beach ridges formed during periods of extreme onshore wind uplift during the last Ice Age. Because of the uplift, the lowermost burial mounds may not be older than a few thousand years. But the oldest farthest might as well come from the Bronze Age, 1800-500 BC.
Little is known about the mounds; however it is not difficult to understand that in pagan times the tombs were placed right here - the place where the moraine disappearing into the Skagerrak sea is kind of a natural place for the last earthly journey.
The vast burial ground contains 230 artificial stone cairns. The largest has a diameter of 35 meters. The minimum is two to three feet in diameter. Most are round, some are rectangular and one is the shape of a ship.
Vikings
#Mølen - Yngling’s family grave?
#The battle of Nesjar
Our ancestors also believed that Mølen was a magical place. During the Iron and Viking Ages at least 230 small and large burial rock mounds were laid, the biggest of them has a diameter of 35 metres.
Many people believe that Mølen was the burial place for a branch of the powerful Ynglinge family, minor kings who ruled parts of Norway in the early Viking era. In the ode called Ynglingatal the skald (poet) Tjodolv from Kvine relates that the Vestfold king Øystein Fret was buried under a pile of rocks at the pointed end of the ridge.
Øystein was born in the year 765, and if the story is true his grave must be from the early 800s. An unusual stone formation in the shape of a ship was excavated in the 1970s and was found to contain iron nails and charcoal and has probably held a burnt ship. Today, the common opinion is that most of the grave mounds at Mølen were erected between 400 and 900 AD, while some of the large piles on the hill probably date from the early Bronze Age, 100 – 500 BC.
The battle of Nesjar
On Palm Sunday 25 March 1016, a naval battle took place off the coast of Mølen. This is the first exact dating of an event in Norwegian history. The battle is regardedas one of the defining events in the unification of Norway, and as the biggest naval battle in Norwegian history.
V
After the death of Olav Tryggvason in the battle of Svolder in the year 1000, Norway was divided between the victors Svein Forkbeard (Tjugeskjegg), King of Denmark, Eirik Håkonsson, Earl of Lade and Olaf Skötkonung, King of Sweden. The Earls of Lade were constituted as the de facto rulers of Norway, with the exception of the Oslo Fjord area (Viken), which was subjected to Danish rule.
While generally disparaged in medieval literature, the rule of The Earls of Lade (Eirik and Svein) is today generally considered as good and tolerant. Only 12 years of age, Olav Haraldsson (later to become known as St. Olav), was introduced to the life as a Viking at sea. He spent his teenage years gaining military experience as the commander of mercenary troops in England and Normandy.
Olav was baptized in Rouen in 1014, and in 1015, he returned to Norway to claim the throne. According to the sagas, the decisive battle took place at Nesjar, which is an older name for Mølen. The fleet of Olav Haraldsson consisted of 20 ships and 2000 men. Against them stood Svein, Earl of Lade and his allied chieftains with 45 ships and 3000 men.
Olav's ships were larger and his crew more experienced, and he came out of the battle victorious. After his victory, Olav went ashore and, according to the saga literature, erected a cross. The place name Helgeroa (Heilagroda = holy cross) may be derived from this event.
After the battle, Svein, Earl of Lade escaped eastwards through Sweden to Russia. Olav did not meet much resistance after this, and was later hailed as king over the whole country at Oyrething in Trøndelag. On July 29th 1030, Olav fell in the battle of Stiklestad. After his death he became known as «Olav the Holy» for his part in introducing a Christian legislation in Norway. St. Olav became the patron Saint of Norway and «Norway's Eternal King».
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