9: The Farm from Torup

Skamby Torupgården. Set fra vejen med gadekæret i forgrunden. Gården står nu i Den Fynske Landsby.

Ild i bagerovnen i Torupgården i Den Fynske Landsby.

Der arbejdes i hestegangshuset ved Torupgården i Den Fynske Landsby.

Det flotte ni-kantede hestegangshus stammer fra Sdr. Nærå.

Mønsterhaven ved den Fynske Landsbys Torupgård.

Torupgården i Den Fynske Landsby.

Levende Historie i Den Fynske Landsbys aktivitetsgård, Torupgården.

Intro

The Torup Farm (no. 9) is The Funen Village's activities farm. This is where most of the Living History activities take place, and some of the Village's livestock are kept here during the summer. See www.museum.odense.dk for information on activities.

Until 1787, the Torup Farm was a copyhold farm, owned by Vigerslev Church. In 1787, the vicar of Vigerslev exchanged the farm for two farms owned by Dallund Manor in the closer village of Ørritslev. As a consequence, Dallund's owner at that time came to own all the farms in Torup and was able to equalise the village. In 1854, copyholder Jørgen Larsen bought the farm as freehold. Throughout almost all of the 19th century, the farm's household comprised a farming couple and a varying number of children as well as servants. The number of servants increased from one in 1801 to five in 1850 and 1860, before falling again to 3-4 towards the end of the century. The number of servants was naturally dependant on the number of children living at home who were able to take part in the work. However, it also reflects an economic development, where greater yields from the land as a consequence of soil improvement resulted in an increased need for labour.

Building tradition The Torup Farm is a four-winged timber-framed building. The four wings are built together, forming a square around the farmyard, where the midden – as was usually the case – is located. The two-coloured façade on the Torup Farm farmhouse is seen on many farm houses on Funen. The roof is thatched with reed and the ridge has kragetræer. In 2000, the Torup Farm was altered and converted into an activity farm. This means that parts of the farm are newly fitted out with rooms which were reconstructed according to documented information on the farm's former appearance as well as general background knowledge concerning building traditions during the 19th century. Completely new features comprise the pigsty, stables, byre, dairy, bake-oven and rooms for farm labourers and maid servants, while the remaining rooms are probably as they were in the middle of the 19th century. All the furnishings and fittings at the Torup Farm are copies or artefacts collected with the intention that they can be used by museum staff.

Building history There is a reference to Torup Farm in a clergyman’s report from 1570, but the present buildings are much later. The first detailed information on the farm's appearance dates from 1830. At that time it comprised a 17-bay dwelling house, two barns of, respectively, 11 and 18 bays and a 16-bay byre building. In the 1850s, three of the wings were extended and a new 21-bay barn was added. At the same time, the wattle-and-daub walls of the dwelling house (see p. xxx) were replaced with fired and “raw” (unfired) bricks. By 1855 the farm stood as it appears today.

The striking nine-sided timber-framed building that stands immediately to the east of the Torup Farm's east wing, originates from a farm in Sønder Nærå, SE of Odense. In the first half of the 1850s, a similar horse-engine house was built for Torup Farm, but this was demolished in 1897. Many horse-engine houses were built on Funen in the time after 1850. In a horse engine, the power of one or more horses was used to drive machines. The increased yields from agricultural land throughout the 19th century meant that hand-threshing of the cereals became too time-consuming. Instead, many farmers bought threshing machines which could both thresh and process large quantities of grain in a short time. The present horse engine machinery is of cast iron. It is linked to a threshing machine in the east wing of the farm, which is later than the actual building. It is also of a type which belongs out on the farmyard. In the horse-engine houses, the millwork was of wood, but the original machinery had already been removed when this building was acquired.