Preliminaries The place
Borre Ring is first mentioned in a 1682 land register as part of
Christian V's cadastral map. --> The fortress was first mentioned in an archaeological context by
Sophus Müller in 1875: :«
Right to the east of the farm [Gl. Lellingegaard] lies a bank called "Borgerring" and by virtue of its location next to the stream [...]» although no certain date was offered. The
US Air Force aerial photo (
ortho-photo) from
Basic Cover 1954 and provided by
COWI shows the fortress as a somewhat blurry shadow on the field. It was only after echo-photography in November 1970 that it was suggested there might be an actual trelleborg near Lellinge; the circular structure was recognized on a photography by
warrant officer Valdemar Ryhl from
Air Base Karup. In 1971–72, the Danish National Museum, represented by Thorkild Ramskou, conducted
excavations on the site, but the research technology available at the time left the embankment itself undated. Evidences of settlement and
middens were dated to the
Roman Iron Age. No evidence of later settlements was found at the excavation site. Prior to work there was a general expectation that the excavation would reveal and document that the fortress ring was from the
Viking Age and similar to the other known Viking ring fortresses. This expectation, however, was not satisfied. All Danish fortifications used to be registered by the
Danish National Museum's Department of
Middle Ages even when finds, such as Borrering, were not from that age. The Museum registered the ring fortress as
Borrering, and when Harald Andersen submitted an article to the magazine Skalk in 1992 in which he "dragged" the pre-Medieval fortifications out of the darkness,
Borrering was consequently referred to in this version: :«
Borrering,
Højelse parish. Circular embankment/grave about 140 m. across, today used for farming. Find dating from early Roman times.» :«
Two major fortresses on Bornholm [....], both from late Iron Age, are clearly refuges while it is less clear if this is also the case with the two remaining fortresses of this magnitude, viz. a circular fortress located just outside Køge, pottery-dated to Roman times,
and [....]» :"
Borrering,
Højelse s. Kredsrund vold/grav, ca 140 m i diam., nu helt nedpløjet. Fund fra ældre romertid." [in Danish] :"
To storborge på Bornholm [....] begge dateret til yngre jernalder, er utvivlsomt tilflugtssteder, mens det er mere usikkert, om det samme gælder de to andre anlæg, som endnu er tilbage i denne størrelsesklasse, nemlig en kredsrund borg beliggende tæt uden for Køge, skårdateret til romertid,
og [....]" [in Danish] On the difficult task of gaining a comprehensive view of pre-historic fortifications Harald Andersen wrote:
"A student wishing to attain a complete overview of this material, while circumventing the archives, must traverse the entirety of Trap Danmark, where every Danish fortification is dealt with, if sparsely. While certainly not an enviable journey, it remains the only viable way". Though the description given of Borrering in Trap Danmark, 5th edition (1960) was so general and speculative that a student of Borrering around 1992 therefore had to use the actual excavation results, now in the National Museum, to learn more about the fortification.
Discovery Some twenty years later, professor Søren Sindbæk of
University of Aarhus was working on a major book on
Aggersborg, when he recognized a clear pattern to the location of the other
fortresses; it soon became clear that there was a fortress missing in eastern Zealand. The trelleborgs are placed a day's march apart, i.e. about 50 kilometres. This distance was also apparent between the nearest fortress
Trelleborg at Slagelse and the now known
trelleborg, Borgring, at Lellinge. In 2014 (maybe just on 18 September) further
archeological research by
Danish Castle Centre and University of Aarhus and with some important help from Helen Goodchild from
University of York showed that Borgring dates back to the 10th century. Remnants of burnt gates were also found possibly suggesting war activity of the kind found in Trelleborg at Slagelse, where nineteen
arrows were found inside the fortress. Up until 2014, the location has only been mentioned a few times in literature, leaving one of the largest circular fortresses in
Denmark in relative obscurity, and just in line with what is known, or not known, about the other trelleborgs. Despite the geometric plan, the type-marker for a
trelleborg, the gates of Borgring are not perfectly aligned north, east, south and west. The minor dislocation (11°) probably reflects concerns that the fortress would emerge asymmetrical in the landscape if the prevailing building principles were rigorously obeyed. Only minor sections of the fortress have been unearthed, but excavations were scheduled to continue in 2015. == Builder ==