The town name ”Hundested”

Have you ever wondered about the name Hundested, which in Danish means ”place of dogs”? Is it perhaps because there has been an extraordinarily large number dogs in the area throughout history?

The answer is in fact yes – just not the kind of dogs you might be thinking of.

Off the current town of Hundested, there once was an extensive reef of the same name. It stretched from Spodsbjerg and far out into the sea in a north-westerly direction.

It was a favourite breeding ground for a large number of seals – in Danish ”sælhunde”, literally “seal dogs” – hence the name ”Hundersted”, which first appeared in 1682 and means ”the place of seal dogs”. Several Danish kings went hunting after the many seals with their hunting parties.

Around 100 years ago, the reef was removed. The materials were used in the construction of several harbours along the Oresund coast and even in the foundation of the artificial island the Trekroner Fort in Copenhagen harbour.

The removal of the reef resulted in a major erosion of the coast that no one had predicted. The steep slopes that can be seen at Spodsbjerg today show how radically the coast was changed. Now, huge granite boulders have been placed to function as a breakwater as well as protection for the foot of the slopes in order to preserve the coast.

Even though the seals’ reef was removed, you can still experience them along the coast of North Zealand.

25 km north of Zealand, out in the Kattegat on the uninhabited island Hesselø, several hundred seals reside and use the island as their breeding ground. The population of harbour seals in the Kattegat is growing, and so you can also be lucky enough to see seals lying on the beaches. They are most often seen at Liseleje, Rågeleje and Tisvildeleje.

One of the reasons for the growing number of seals is that hunting them is prohibited both here in Denmark and in the rest of Scandinavia, and that makes them feel very safe on our beaches, where they are often seen to the delight of nature lovers, young and old.

Source: local municipality Halsnæs Kommune (website in Danish)

PIcture: VisitDenmark / Ribe Turist

Coordinates:  Latitude: 55.967496
Longitude: 11.857575