Hesselvad Bridge

Hesselvad bridge crosses the Åkær River, which has its source between Bække and Vester Nebel and runs 17 km to Kolding Å and Fjord. The place name Hesselvad means the ford by the hazel thicket.

The protected bridge is built of granite blocks with a so-called barrel vault. The bridge covers 8 m, spans 3,5 m, and from the bottom of the stream there is 4 m up to the bridge arch. The bridge has railings of metal pipes between round granite posts.

Since the founding of Kolding in the 1100th century, a road has probably led from Kolding towards Ribe and Varde, which has constituted the largest transverse traffic artery in Jutland. At Vejen it crossed the Hærvejen, which ran north-south on the watershed. At that time, distinctive landscape features were used to find one's way, and here the nearby large burial mound complex with over 47 burial mounds has been useful. The same is true of Andst Kirke.

In the 1790s, a road was built between Kolding and Ribe/Varde, and a wooden bridge was built over the Åkær River, while the current visible stone bridge was built in the 1850s, when the road was expanded to a main road. Look at the width of the asphalt road down to the Hesselvad bridge - that was the standard width for roads - at the time. In the 1930s, due to increasing traffic, the road was moved to its current course a little further south, and in the 1990s, the motorway came a little further north.

Today we call the road from Kolding to Ribe Road 32, and it is therefore one of the most authentic roads. Its course today is quite close to the original.

Hesselvad bridge is also located on the old county boundary between Ribe and Vejle counties.

How to find the bridge:
You will find Hesselvad bridge where Gl. Landevej crosses Åkær Å a little outside Lunderskov. You can park a little east of the bridge up the hill in a small parking lot, and you have to walk around the hedge and past the stone coffin and down past the two tables/benches and continue along the stream bank until you see the bridge.

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