Öland and Kalmar - Part 7 - St Knut's Church and Gråborg (22-May)

Our next stop was another fort, Gråborg by the ruins of Saint Knut's Church.

The village outside Gråborg

An old anvil

Thatched roof building

After passing through the village, we came to the ruins of Saint Knut's Church:

Saint Knut's Church

Saint Knut's Chruch

The Chapel of Saint Knut was named after a medieval Danish King (Canute). It was most likely founded in the 12 century and fell into disuse in the Reformation in the 16th century.

Saint Knut's Church

Passing the chapel we came to the wall leading up to Gråborg fortress:

Towards Gråborg

Gråborg is Sweden's largest prehistoric circular fort. It was built during the collapse of the Roman Empire. It was rebuilt in the 12 century, when two dynasties fought over the Swedish throne.- Bugislev of the Sverker family is believed to have built the fort and Saint Knut's Chapel planning for his future.  The Erik dynasty won and both Gråborg and the chapel were abandoned.

Entrance to Gråborg

Outside Gråborg we found a fierce army ready to invade:

Army

Ready to charge

Heading in to Gråborg

The arch

Entry (this is the photo Kris is taking two shots above..)

Gråborg was huge:

Gråborg

Gråborg from the far end

360 degree shot of the inside of Gråborg

Walls

Some man-made canals ran through Gråborg, and as we left we saw that they were used to route the creek outside through the fort.

Canals

Rocks lining the canals

Kristine by the far wall

The exit