Sindal is a
railway town
A railway town, or railroad town, is a settlement that originated, or was expanded, as a result of a railway line being constructed there.
North America
During the construction of the First transcontinental railroad in the 1860s, temporary, ...
on the island of
Vendsyssel-Thy at the top of the
Jutland
Jutland (; , ''Jyske Halvø'' or ''Cimbriske Halvø''; , ''Kimbrische Halbinsel'' or ''Jütische Halbinsel'') is a peninsula of Northern Europe that forms the continental portion of Denmark and part of northern Germany (Schleswig-Holstein). It ...
peninsula in northern
Denmark
Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...
. It has a population of 3,071 (1 January 2025) and is located in
Hjørring Municipality in
Region Nordjylland.
Until 1 January 2007 Sindal was also the seat of
Sindal Municipality which was merged with existing Hjørring,
Løkken-Vrå, and
Hirtshals municipalities to form an enlarged
Hjørring Municipality.
History
The town was originally named ''Soldalen'', meaning "Sun Valley". There is some dispute over when the city was officially founded; the earliest records of the city's existence date back to the 18th century, in which the city is described as "Sindal church near the town of Sindal with Housing for the priest, a railroad, and school". Much of the town's growth was a result the
Sindal Station, which brought business to the area and was built in 1871.
The town's oldest commercial building is the Sindal mill. It had originally been built in the nearby village of Fjeldsted, but was moved to Sindal in 1872 after the railway station was opened. It remained operational as a grain mill until 1947, but after its closure fell into disrepair. Major restorations managed to save the windmill and today it remains the only fully preserved stone-walled mill in
Vendsyssel.
In 1976,
Sindal Airport opened. The Airport is property of Hjørring Municipality which oversees its operations.
Religion
The town's original church, referred to as ''Old Sindal Church'' (Danish: ''Sindal Gamle Kirke''), was first built in the 12th century. It has since been renovated and expanded several times. In 1910, Sindal City Church (Danish: ''Sindal Bykirke'') was built to accommodate the expanding town. It was designed by
Hother A. Paludan in the
Neo-Romanesque style.
Both congregations belong to the
Church of Denmark
The Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Denmark or National Church ( , or unofficially ; ), sometimes called the Church of Denmark, is the established, state-supported church in Denmark. The supreme secular authority of the church is composed of ...
and are part of the parish of Sindal Sogn within the
Diocese of Aalborg.
Sindal Baptist Church (Danish: ''Sindal Baptistkirke'') was established in 1905 as a
free church.
Notable people
*
Martin Mortensen (1872 in Sindal – 1953): an American Professor and Head of the Department of Dairy Industry at
Iowa State College in
Ames, Iowa
Ames () is a city in Story County, Iowa, United States, located approximately north of Des Moines, Iowa, Des Moines in central Iowa. It is the home of Iowa State University (ISU). According to the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, Ames ha ...
; emigrated to the US in 1893.
*
Martinus Thomsen
Martinus Thomsen, referred to as Martinus, (11 August 1890 – 8 March 1981) was a Danish people, Danish author. Born into a poor family and with a limited education, Martinus claimed to have had a profound Spirituality, spiritual experience in M ...
(1890 near Sindal – 1981): a Danish author, philosopher and mystic.
*
Jørgen Østergaard (1944 in Sindal): a Danish engineer and former rector at
Aalborg University
Aalborg University (AAU) is an international public university with campuses in Aalborg, Esbjerg, and Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1974, the university awards bachelor's degrees, master's degrees, and PhD degrees in a wide variety of subje ...
.
*
Rune Kristensen (1986 in Sindal): a professional bicycle mechanic in the UCI World Tour famous for performing the first disc brake bike wheel change in professional cycling.
*
Gulli Arason (1950 in
Iceland
Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...
): author and artist, settled in Sindal in 2019.
Gallery
File:Sindal-Windmill.jpg, alt=, Sindal Windmill
File:Sindal-glKirke-01.jpg, alt=, Old Sindal Church, 2008
File:Sindal Kirke 005 ubt.JPG, alt=, Sindal City Church
References
{{Hjørring Municipality
Cities and towns in the North Jutland Region
Hjørring Municipality