Svenskekløften is also called Djævlekløften. It is located in the middle of Hesede Forest, and is a 25 meter deep meltwater gorge from the last ice age.
Legend has it that during the war in 1660, the Swedes hid from Gøngehøvdingen Svend Poulsen and his men in the gorge. Hence the nickname Svenskekløften.
The Swedish gorge is one of the dramatic creations of the ice age. The meltwater of the ice has cut a deep scar in Hesede Forest. At the same time, more death holes were created, now lakes.
Svend Poulsen was probably born in Sweden, which was Danish at the time, in Gønge county. He lived from 1610 to 1679.
As a Danish sniper captain, he lived here in the South Zealand region, as leader of the Snaphans in the Danish-Swedish wars in the 17th century.
We first hear of Svend Poulsen in 1625, when he was recruited for the Danish army's participation in the Thirty Years' War.
Later, during the new Danish-Swedish war in 1657-1658, he participated as a captain. He waged guerrilla warfare against the Swedes in northern Scania and southern Halland.
In the following war 1658-1660, Svend Poulsen organized a resistance movement against the Swedes in South Zealand.