Lerkenfeldt

Facts

Lords of the manor with feet of clay

By Carsten Porskrog Rasmussen , Lektor, dr. phil., Aarhus Universitet (26 stories)

Lerkenfeld Manor near Farsø in Himmerland was commissioned by nobleman Jørgen Lykke in the 1560s under the name Bonderup. He had the existing main building built shortly afterwards. It consists of one long main wing and two short half-timbered side wings. The manor house has two storeys and a round tower. It was taken over by the middle-class Lerche family in 1681, and its name changed to Lerkenfeld. In 1792, the estate was bought by three brothers, Mikkel, Jens and Peder Kjeldsen. It belongs to the Kjeldsen family to this day.

Not a public place

Selected entry

From peasant's sons to lords of the manor

Story written by Carsten Porskrog Rasmussen

Time / Periode 1792 1820

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Mikkel, Jens and Peder Kjeldsen were sons of a copyholder. They had shaken loose from adscription and made their fortunes trading cattle and leasing land at estates. When they bought Lerkenfeld in 1792, they became lords of the manor. That trod on a few toes. The new estate owners were pioneers of agriculture, but the new methods meant more work for the peasants. They complained and went on strike. The peasants' descendants even believed that Mikkel Kjeldsen's ghost remained in purgatory for tormenting peasants. Mikkel Kjeldsen's son sold the copyhold estate. After that, the Kjeldsens were just one among many large landowning families and feathers were no longer ruffled. In 1979, H.O.A. Kjeldsen of Lerkenfeld became President of the Danish Agricultural Council. Wisely, he refrained from using his title landowner". "