Højbygård

History

Højbygaard and the nearby village of Højby appear in records for the first time in 1397, when the estate belonged to a squire named Iven Bramsted. Ownership later passed to Axel Gøye, then to the Walkendorff family, before it came to Erik Krummedige through marriage in 1475. His son, Claus Krummedige, modified the main building near the end of the 1400s and fortified it with ramparts and a moat. Claus’s daughter, Drude, brought the property into her marriage with Otte Krumpen, who served as Marshal of the Realm.

After Krumpen’s death, the estate went to his relative Helvig Ulfeldt. Her son, Knud Bille, greatly increased the estate’s landholdings. In 1638, Henrik Rantzau bought Højbygård from Knud Bille’s son Holger, and the next two owners were also from the Rantzau family.

The Crown seized Højbygård in 1685 because of unpaid taxes. In 1718, it became part of a local cavalry district, which was dissolved in 1725, and the estate was then sold at auction to Abraham Lehn. Over the next few years, Lehn acquired Fuglsang, Priorskov, and Berritsgård. He was granted a peerage under the name Lehn in 1731 and improved estate management, introducing Holstein rotation in the 1750s.

After Abraham Lehn died in 1757, Højbygaard and Berritsgård went to his son Poul Abraham Lehn. In 1780, he was made a baron when Berritsgård and Orebygård were combined into the Barony of Guldborgland. He bought Lungholm in 1784. In 1803, he turned Højbygård, Lungholm, and another property into a stamhus called Sønderkarle, which was given to his daughter Johanne Frederikke Lehn, who was married to Frederik Wallmoden of Fuglsang.

A stamhus could not be sold, mortgaged, or split among heirs. After Johanne Lehn’s death in 1805, Poul Godske von Bertouch was made a baron with the name Bertouch-Lehn, and Sønderkarle passed to her nephew, also named Poul Godske von Bertouch, from Søholt. In 1819, Stamhuset Sønderkarle became a barony.

Bertouch-Lehn lived at Lungholm, while Højbygaard was used as the estate manager’s residence. Starting in 1880, the land was leased by De Danske Sukkerfabrikker for growing sugar beets. The Højbygaard Sugar Factory, originally called the Lolland Sugar Factory, was built on the estate between 1872 and 1874. The Barony of Sønderkarle was dissolved in 1925 under the lensafløsningsloven of 1919, and part of the land was divided into 44 smallholdings.