Siim Village
Intro
In 1338 the village name Siim is mentioned in print for the first time. The word Siim is probably composed of two other words: ”Sig” meaning a damp hollow or lake, and ”Hem” meaning home.
So the word Siim is to be understood as the settlement by the hollow or lake. Siim Mose, north of the village, is probably the site of a choked-up lake, later a marsh
The first Reformed King of Denmark was Christian the Third. He was elected king after a meeting between the Jutland nobility and the bishops of Jutland in the church at Gl. Rye (Old Ry) in 1534. He carried through the Reformation in 1536, among other things by confiscating the Catholic Church’s goods. Before the Reformation, all farms in Siim belonged to Øm Monastery to the south, but for the following 200 years tenants of Siim belonged to the crown.
The farmers paid taxes for cultivating the land. They simply had to hand over a part of their produce to the king. This might consist of corn or butter, livestock or firewood. In addition there was an obligation to provide accommodation and victuals for the king’s hunting parties, which could arrive at any time, and to feed his horses.
In 1767, the farmers in many of Danish Lakeland villages purchased their farms at an auction at Skanderborg Castle, including farmers of Siim. Now they were freeholders, and this became important for the way they cultivated the land. As early as 1783, they divided the village land amongst themselves and converted the common cultivation methods into individual enterprise.
When Ry Station was built on Siim Mark (Siim Field), and the railway opened in 1871, Siim farmers, like many others, were offered new opportunities. The cooperative movement gained a foothold in the railway town, and agriculture became a good money-spinner. As the railway town grew, farmers sold land to the new town, and today the old village of Siim is completely surrounded by the commercial areas of the station town.