Varnæs

History

The port at Varnæs was, for several years, an important shipping site. Skovsøen, 3 km northeast of the town, acted as a natural harbor. In 1231, when Varnæs was a crown dependency, income from the port was mentioned. Varnæs was also mentioned in the Danish Census Book. The Varnæs Birk had its own birk judge, and was thus an independent jurisdiction until 1769, when the district bailiff also became the birk judge. Trials took place in the open air on a square in the middle of the city. 1 km northwest of the city is Galgebjerg, where executions took place. Petty criminals were tied to one of the two neck irons on the church's belfry, where they could be mocked. Varnæs got a railway stop () with sidings on the Aabenraa County Railway's Aabenraa-Gråsten line (1899-1926). The railway stop was located at the inn east of Varnæsvigvej on the current Varnæsvej, which is partially built on the track's route. Where Smedegade ends at Varnæsvigvej, there is a stone that was erected on Constitution Day in 1930 in memory of the 1920 Schleswig Plebiscites.