Brøndehøje Skanse

At the top of the coastal escarpment at the western end of the forest Busene Have, on the south-eastern tip of Møn about four kilometres east of Klintholm Harbour, lies Brøndehøje Skanse. The fortification was built during the Swedish Wars of 1658–60 and is said to have had six cannons, though it is widely believed the site has roots stretching back to the Middle Ages, when small defensive works were erected along exposed coasts to guard against raids from the Baltic. From the redoubt there is a wide view over the Baltic Sea, from where approaching enemy ships could be signalled in good time to the other coastal defences and to the towns inland. The site also bears traces of a vanished fishing village: near the redoubt lay Brøndhøje, which during the height of the herring fishery was closely connected to the Lübeck merchants' Baltic trade and brought great prosperity to Møn, until the settlement was washed away in the storm surge of 1625 and never rebuilt. The redoubt is part of one of Denmark's richest prehistoric landscapes: the surrounding Busene Have contains a long barrow and ten round burial mounds, presumably from the Bronze Age, and visitors are quickly captivated by the special atmosphere where history and nature are closely intertwined.