TAMDRUP KIRKE - Nationalmuseet

The Romanesque basilica was probably built
in one continuous process within a few years,
with the chancel and the eastern end of the nave
as the first stage. A dendrochronological analysis
(1983) of two window frames – from the north
side of the chancel and the south side of the nave
– shows that the wood used was felled in the first
decades of the 1100s. And since the wood in the
two window frames seems to have been felled at
the same time, we must assume that the chancel
and nave were finished at about the same time. In
the nave the foundations were originally designed
to bear a wall of the same thickness as the chancel;
but after the construction of the eastern quarter
of the side aisle walls the thickness was reduced,
so that the lowest part of the walls at the western
end on the inside was left standing as a bench.
The chancel is the only part of the church to
have facade ornamentation, consisting of roundarched
recesses divided by pilasters; but as a highly
unusual feature this architectural decoration
was not used at the eastern end of the chancel,
which is without corner pilasters. The chancel
apse, which was demolished a few years before
the Reformation, is known from an excavation
in 2001.
The nave, whose gables were probably terminated
with masonry crests, had doors in the south
and north and presumably also in the west. The
low side­aisles were sparingly illuminated with
just two windows in each side and a single window
in the western end. In the nave walls there
was an odd number of windows, five in the south
and four in the north. In the central nave, which
was covered by a flat timbered ceiling, the walls
were borne by twelve low pillars, six on each
side, every second of which was removed in connection
with the vaulting in the 1400s. What has
been preserved is five round columns and one
rectangular pier, the northwestern one. From the
missing pillars a restoration in 1933­34 was only
able to demonstrate the square plinths that had
borne the piers, which means that it is possible
that the interior had alternating round columns
and square piers – so­called alternating supports
(cf. figs. 18, 42). An unusual opening in the east
gable of the nave, above the chancel arch and
TAMDRUP CHURCH
5171
originally visible from the central nave, opened
on to the chancel loft (figs. 19, 20). The roundarched
opening, cut across at the top by the ceiling
beam, is technically a relieving arch; but it
may have been put there for the sake of the surrounding
murals – perhaps to hold a sculpture
(the Ascension?), or for special liturgical reasons
(the display of relics?). At the opposite end there
was probably a timbered west gallery, resting on
ledges in the arcade walls.
The chronology of the extensive Late Medieval
construction phases can be estimated with
reasonable certainty. The porch at the north side
of the nave and probably also a later demolished
southern porch are older than the rebuilding of
the nave, and this may also be true of the chancel
vaulting. After this the construction stages mainly
went from west to east. The tower was built
while the central aisle still stood with its old roof
height, perhaps around 1463, when the large bell
of the church was acquired. The tower interior
was originally divided into two floors, and the
thick south wall probably contained a staircase.
After this work began – probably c. 1475­1500
– on the nave, whose outer walls were considerably
heightened and reinforced with buttresses,
and vaults were built in, beginning with the side
aisles and ending with the central aisle. In the
southwestern corner of this a spiral staircase was
built in an independent stairwell (demolished in
1933). In connection with the vaulting, as mentioned
above, every other pillar was removed in
the nave walls and new large arcades were broken
through to the side­aisles. The interior thus more
or less took on the character of a hall church, inasmuch
as the arches of the side­aisles only have a
slightly lower span than those of the central aisle.
Since the rebuilding the three aisles of the nave
have been covered by a large common roof.
Before 1520 (cf. the murals) the apse was separated
from the chancel and accommodated a
small narrow sacristy by a closing wall in front of
the opening of the apse (fig. 48). The transverse
wall was originally furnished with a door at
the north side of the altar. Above the altar,
which because of the door was pulled towards
the south, the partition wall is furnished with
326*