Hjerm limestone quarry

Hjerm limestone quarry and mine is located on the southern outskirts of the station town of Hjerm between Holstebro and Struer.

The presence of the limestone near the surface is due, as at the sites Odby Klint , Bjørndal Kalkgrav and Sevel Kalkgrav , to the existence of a salt structure in the subsoil, which has here lifted the Danian limestone by approx. 400 metres. This salt structure is known as the Vejrum salt structure.

Quarrying of agricultural lime is known from 1770, but the quarrying and lime burning only took off in earnest in the last third of the 19th century. In 1893 a large ring kiln was built and underground quarrying began, so that production could also be carried out in the winter. Lime burning was discontinued in 1941 and quarrying of agricultural lime stopped in 1957.

The limestone mine was taken over by Thise Dairy in 1913, which has since stored organic “pit cheese” here. A problem with the layout of the cheese warehouse, namely bats, was solved by closing off half of the mine to the bats with their own exit. Since then, the population of bats has doubled.