In Mølby, riverside scenery and a long history of settlement exist side by side. The Oksen Way offers a practical starting point for taking in the Nørreå; archaeological sites point to early settlements, and a cultural heritage area to the northeast contains traces dating from the Older Stone Age to the Middle Ages. This gives you two distinct areas to focus on when planning your visit: trails and scenery, or the historical context of individual sites.
Trails and riverside scenery
The Oksen Way begins at Mølledamspladsen in Mølby and heads towards the winding Nørreå. Beyond the houses of Mølby, the trail offers a beautiful view of Tovskov Slotsbanke and the lake around it.
The Oksen Way connects all the villages and settlements in the Oksenvad rural district with the Hærvejen. In addition, a network of footpaths loops around the Nørreå and continues through the farmland north of Sommersted. This gives you two different scales to help you find your way: the Oksen Way links the settlements with the Hærvejen, while the footpaths trace a route through the river landscape and farmland. When choosing between them, consider whether you are more interested in the broader connection or the network of looping trails.
For the approximately ten-kilometre stretch of the Nørreå from Mølby to Øster Lindet, an assessment published by DTU Aqua in November 2019 describes a lively current and a gravel-and-stone riverbed. It rates these conditions as particularly good for salmon. Biological conditions can change over time. The trail routes and the assessment of the river offer different perspectives: one concerns finding your way on foot, the other the current, riverbed and salmon.
A municipal landscape analysis from 2021 classifies parts of Mølby as a particularly valuable geological conservation area and as landscapes worthy of preservation. This landscape classification applies to parts of Mølby, not the entire town.
Near Mølby, the Ørsted Å joins the Nørreå. In the past, the waters of both rivers were dammed at Tovskov Mølledam. Together, these details represent two periods in the local history of the rivers: their confluence near Mølby and the former damming of their waters.
Archaeological traces and historic sites
An area northeast of Mølby is designated as a cultural heritage area. It preserves traces of human activity dating from the Older Stone Age to the Middle Ages, providing a broad timeframe for the history of the area.
A more specific prehistoric site is the archaeological area of Slotsengen in Nørre Ådalen, between Mølby and Neder Lert. It contains remains of at least three different settlements. Two of these settlement remains are attributed to the Hamburg culture and dated to around 11,000 BC. Slotsengen therefore takes us back to a very early period of settlement, well before the medieval cultural traces in the cultural heritage area to the northeast.
Tovskov Voldsted, the remains of an old fortification, lies between Mølby and Lerte. It consists of a roughly rounded mound about 15 × 20 metres in size and around four metres high, with steep sides. Unlike Slotsengen, with its remains of several settlements, Tovskov Voldsted represents a single fortification site. The two places thus offer different historical points of reference: settlement traces on the one hand, and a former fortification on the other.
Discover more destinations: Sønder Vilstrup, Marstrup, Stenderup, Knud, Halk, Sommersted, Råde, Årøsund.
For the main travel overview: Haderslev Municipality.
