The castle that governed the medieval herring markets

Skanörs borg, a castle in modern Vellinge commune in Skåne, was built in the 1220s. It was demolished in the late 1700s, though it was abandoned after the 1420s. Today, the ruins consist of a ruin mound, low walls and trenches. Only the inner of the two ring-shaped trenches that once surrounded the mound remains intact today.

The fish markets in Skanör - Falsterbo attracted tens of thousands of visitors annually from the 1200s until the beginning of the 1500s. The king guaranteed order and law at the fish market through his deputies, the fogdars, who also demanded taxes and fees. The herring markets were the crown's most important sources of income during the medieval period. From the castle in Skanör, the tax collectors managed the operations. People came here to obtain their "fish cards," receiving a small, stamped lead mark as proof of payment.

In 1312, the castle was captured. In 1407, a royal steward is still mentioned in Skanör. The youngest coins found on the mound date from the 1420s. Excavations in 1907-1909 revealed that a brick house measuring 17 x 8 meters and a smaller timber-framed house once stood on the cobblestone mound. A deep, wood-lined well also existed here, and a wooden palisade ran along the moat at the foot of the mound.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons