Vennerslund

Vennerslund was originally called Stadager and took its name after the village it was situated in. The first known owner was Folmer Folmersen who owned it in 1351. The estate was later owned by the Lunge family and from the middle of the 15th century by the Venstermand family. Lave Venstermand became the last member of the family to own the estate. In 1576 he ceded it to king Frederick II in exchange for Pederstrup on Lolland. Frederick II renamed the estate Sophieholm after his wife sin Sophie of Mecklenburg but its old name was reintroduced in 1583.[1]

Christian VII sold the royal holdings on Falster in auction 1766 to make payments on the Danish sovereign debt. The land was divided into eight parcels, each of which forming the basis of a new manor house with associated tenant farms. Parcel number seven was acquired by Hans Tersling and Peder Thestrup who constructed a house on the land and named the estate Vennerslund ("Friends' Grove"). A second manor house was built on the land in 1773 after the tenant farmers had complained about the long distances they had to cover to work in the fields. The new manor house was given the name Kirstineberg ("Kirstine's Hill") after Tersling's wife Kirstine. Tersling died in 1785 and his widow Kirstine Tersling became the sole owner of Vennerslund and Kirstineberg four years later. When she then married Jakob Edvard Colbjørnsen, it was decided in a prenuptial that Vennerslund was to be passed on to her son from her first marriage, Jørgen Tersling, while Kirstineberg would be passed on to the Colbjørnsen family.[2]

Carl Vincens Grandjean

Ludvig Grandjean

In 1809, Tersling sold Vennerslund for 30000 rigsdaler to Carl Vincens Grandjean. Grandjean established Det Grandjean'ske Legathus in the parish prior to his death in 1844. He had no children and Vennerslund was therefore passed on to his nephew Ludvig Grandjean. Ludvig Grandjean founded the stamhus Vennerslund in accordance with his uncle's will from 1840 with the result that it could no longer be sold, pledged or divided between heirs. It was the last wtamhus established in Denmark. In 1845, he also constructed a new, two-storey main building with the assistance of the master carpenter Otto Michael Glahn.[3]

On Ludvig Grrandjean' death in 1861. Vannerslund was passed on to his son Johan Carl Wilhelm Grandjean. He was in turn succeeded by his own son, Johan Ludvig Grandjean, who held the estate until 1926.

The so-called lensafløsningslov of 1919 introduced such a hard taxation of len and stamhuse that it meant a de facto dissolution of them. In 1930, it was therefore ceded to his son Vincens Grandjean as his personal property.

Vincens Grandjean married on 14 March 1937 Nina Agnete Elsa Charlotta Tuxen, a daughter of the painter Laurits Tuxen. Their daughter and only child Susanne Ingeborg Grandjean married on 12 September 1963 to Jens Knud Bille, Count Brockenhuus-Schack, owner of nearby Barritskov. Her father ceded Vennerslund to her in conjunction with the wedding. In 1978, Baritskov was sold to Mogens Harttung. In 2001, Vennerslund was ceded to her son Kim Vincens Bille Brockenhuus-Schack.