Aggersborg - Viking Ring Castle

Article By: Dan Hill

2 years ago

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Culture-Castle Culture-Prehistoric Monument Culture-Vikings

In total, seven viking ring castles have been discovered, but with a diameter of 240 metres, Aggersborg is the largest found so far. Aggersborg is also one of the largest archaeological sites in Denmark. The fort is located on Limfjord (a crossroads for trade) - in northern Jutland - where it was used to house a garrison of up to 5,000 men. The castle follows the familiar design: a wooden circular exterior wall - (around 4 metres high and a couple of metres thick), with 2 roads crossing the castle - and meeting at the centre. The roads divide the circle into quarters - and within each quarter would have resided a number of long-houses (48 in this case). Given the size of Aggersborg, smaller streets were installed in each quarter. As with the other ring castles, this one is thought to have been built during the reign of Harald Bluetooth - about 980 AD. Such was the enormity of this castle, that it is thought that it took 66 large oak trees to build it. The castle was built on a large rampart with a moat surrounding it.