Mindestenen - engelsk
Præstegården.
Intro
Tunø Village evolved around the church. The area below the church, near the monument, was the social gathering point in the village. Village meetings were held here – meetings where common business issues would be resolved.
Tunø Village evolved around the church. The area below the church, near the monument, was the social gathering point in the village. Village meetings were held here – meetings where common business issues would be resolved.
The monument was erected in 1975 by the newly formed Tunø residents’ association in commemoration of the great fire that destroyed most of the village on 5 August 1852.
The fire laid two thirds of the village waste, including the vicarage, 16 farmsteads and 15 houses. 32 families were left homeless and lost everything. After the fire, only four farmsteads and 12 houses were left. A total of 213 people were living on Tunø at the time.
The fire started in a house in the eastern part of the village. The exact source of the fire isn’t known, but since the houses were very close together and many of them terraced, the fire spread very quickly. The island’s fire-fighting equipment was not of much use against a fire of this magnitude, nor did the assistance arriving from the island of Samsø make much difference.
A couple of days after the fire, a nationwide appeal went out for contributions to the families who were now destitute. A total of 10,450 rix dollars were collected, which was a lot of money in those days. The money was shared out among the needy families. 19 families decided to move out of the village and rebuild on their land well away from the village perimeter. Before the fire, only two farmsteads were located outside the village