Skaerbaek Parish

The Parish of Skaerbaek is very old and dates back to 1292 when the original village was centred around the church with vicarage, the inn and from 1742, a school. During the 1800s Skærbæk, Nørth-Skærbæk and Melby together grew into a coherent town and after 1850 there developed a city centre around the Great Street.

In total, the parish had 212 living places around 1840, of which 80 were farms, 40 small holdings, 83 houses plus schools, priest’s farm and the pauper house. 

In terms of ways of living, about 310 people were doing domestic work or farming work. In addition to this, about 50 people were working as craftsmen such as shoemakers, blacksmiths, wheel makers etc. – these included 1 jeweller and 1 watchmaker. 

There were more than 100 people working in the clothes and cloth industry. These included 13 tailors and 10 weavers. But they also included 65 lace makers which was a key industry in this area. The production of lace was exported to places like Germany, Denmark, Holsten, Norway, Sweden and Russia. 

The pattern of the city's street grid was fixed in at least the mid-1800s and by the time it was part of Germany (1864 - 1920) the parish was divided into 3 small Municipalities and by 1875, Skaerbaek Parish had a total of 1,472 inhabitants.

Melby Village

Henry’s home was in Melby which was originally an artisan village in south Skaerbaek. It is also here that Skaerbaek’s two oldest houses are situated - Melby Inn from 1651 and Melbyhus from 1688. We have established that Henry grew up in the house at Melbyvei 25 which was next-door to Melbyhus (Melbyvei 27 which still exists today) 

It is interesting that Melby Inn, (Melbyvej 19) was in it’s time a coaching inn, and also at different times housed dye, carpentry workshops, a watchmaker, a bakery and the grocery store for Melby village. Given that Henry likely learnt his Jeweller/watchmaker trade from his next door neighbour (Laust Andersen at Melbyvej 23), it is also likely Henry worked out of the Melby Watchmaker’s rooms at the Inn premises. Melby Inn still exists today.

Link to History Map of Skaerbaek - https://historiskatlas.dk