Gammel Estrup and Fausing church/ Fausing kirke, Sønderhald herred, Randers amt.

 
Gammel Estrup.

When the counts Henrik II and Klaus of Holstein in 1340 gave hertug Valdemar III of Sønderjylland their pawn-rights of Nørrejylland, it was decided that Anders Jensen had to have back his own farm in Estrup, and in the following year he is written of the farm. His widow Johanne Brok (+ 1372), after whom the family took its name, was on the side of the rebels against king Valdemar Atterdag, who because of this destroyed E. in 1359. The son hr. Jens Andersen Brok (+ 1408) was a supporter of the king and later became a drost. His son's son hr. Esge Jensen Brok (+ 1441) inherited E., which then came to his son hr. Lave Brok, who was known for his violent nature, he started to collect the peasant-farms and had in 1469 established Estrup birk(judicial rights) from his etate in Fausing and Auning parish. Estrup birk existed until 1849.

library, foto stig bachmann nielsen, Naturplan.dk

bedroom, foto stig bachmann nielsen, Naturplan.dk

After his death in 1504 E. was owned by his widow Kirstine Pedersdatter(Høeg Banner), who married Peder Lykke of Demstrup; in 1529 the children Niels and Ide Brok entered their paternal heritage and shared E. and Vemmetofte , while the peasant-estate was common. Two families lived at the farm and there was always feuds among them. Ide Brok was married to Trued Ulfstand of Torup (+ 1545), her part was inherited by the son Gregers Ulfstand (+ at E. in 1582) and his son-in-law Carl Bryske (+ 1613). Niels Brok died in 1534, and his widow Jytte Podebusk married Knud Gyldenstierne of Ågård (+ 1560), who from 1540 is written of E. Her children Lave Brok (+ 1565) and Margrethe Brok, married to Jørgen Bille of Ellinge, had both part in E., but Lave's son Eske Brok gathered the estate again by buying out the above mentioned Carl Bryske in 1587. He died in 1625, the last male of his family, and E. came with the daughter Jytte Brok (+ 1640) to Jørgen Skeel of Sostrup (+ 1631) and then to their son, the rich Christen Skeel. In 1638 the farm was inherited by the son Jørgen Skeel (+ 1695), whose widow Benedicte Margrethe Brockdorff ( + 1739) in 1639 established E. as an entailed estate for her son Christen Skeel (+ 1731) who from his other farms established the county Scheel.

The following owners of the entailed estate was his son count Jørgen Scheel (+ 1786), his son's son count Jørgen Scheel (+ 1825), who almost ruined the farm; his son count Christen Scheel (+ 1844), his widow Christiane Pind (+ 1855),  the son count Jørgen Scheel (+ 1926). In 1921 the entailed estate became free property and in 1926 it was sold to Fr. Legarth. In 1928 the main building and the forests were sold to Christen Scheel's son-in-law Valdemar Uttental of Løvenholm, who by Trust deed of 1930 gave the building for a Manor Museum. Estrup is now the frame of a Herregårdsmuseum, an independent  institution of the Ministry of Culture.(today also agricultural museum)

at the agricultural museum

The earlier farm manager-building was hereafter used as a main building of the estate and was in 1937 sold to Olufsen-Ilskov, in 1942 to architect Meulengracht, in 1947 to Einar Hansen and in 1949 to architect E. Johansen;  in 1950 in auction sale bought by master builder S. Andersen and High Court lawyer H.Hansen, who did a new out-parcelling and sold the main parcel to manager Th. Nielsen, Jernit. He renounced the farm in 1957 to his son-in law E. Holck Gregersen.

Gammel Estrup's main building with farm buildings and garden park is overall mentioned as "Jyllands stateligste herregård"(Jutlands most stately manor), and not without reason. Although there have been three fires in farm buildings and stabkes through the last hundred years, the whole complex has kept much brilliance and greatness of the bygone days.

Nothing is known about the Estrup, which was built by the family Brok, after Valdemar Atterdag in 1359 had broken the earliest parts down, but it is possible to tell something about the water castle, which Lave Brok let build in about the year 1500. It was four winged with a gate through the north wing;  the poles of the bridge still stand in the bottom of the moat by the place of the drawbridge. In the present main building Lave Broks "large stone house" is included (the two bottom floors in the west wing). The outer walls in this house are very heavy, more than two meters, in the cellar even three meters thick and dressed outside with large granite ashlars. In the cellar the late medieval crossvaults are kept in the gable rooms. In the top of the building are found rests of a guardian walk and shooting peepholes.

Fausing church, foto stig bachmann nielsen, naturplan.dk

 Fausing church
 The church in Fausing has a choir and nave with a later added western tower, where only the original bottom is left, and a porch to the south. The choir and nave are Romanesque in granite ashlars. The southdoor with a round-stick along the edge and a half circular smooth thympanum is kept, but very crumbled like the ashlars of the south side. The north door is bricked-up and partly destructed by a newer window. 2 Romanesque windows and one in the choir gable are bricked-up. In the south side of the choir is kept a small low-placed round-arched window, probably a leprosy-window. The tower is in granite ashlars and in the same broadth as the nave - and almost from the same time. In the beginning of the 1800s the upper sections of the tower were broken down, and the roof of the nave was extended over the bottom section. A later built ridge turret above the west gable was renewed in 1923, and the bell, which was in a bell-stool on the west gable, is now placed in the ridge turret. The large porch in monk bricks is a late Gothic addition. In the late Middle Ages the choir was over-vaulted with one and the nave with three bays crossvaults. In the tower room -which is in connection to the nave by a large pointed arch - was built a vault, which was later replaced by a beamed ceiling. Upon the vaults of choir and nave were found late medieval frescoes, like coat of arms, partly restored in 1886, but later whitewashed in 1962. The southside of the nave is whitewashed or else the church has blank walls, the roof is lead.














The walled communion table is surrounded by a painted panel. Baroque altar piece from ab. 1650 with a carving and decoration from 1958 by Ernst Trier. Altar candelabres from ab. 1600. An interesting ore baptismal font from ab. 1300. The bowl is carried by three male figures, probably depicting paradise rivers. A a wooden sounding board (the font) kept in the attic. Late Renaissance pulpit from ab. 1635 with reliefs; the stool and the sounding board are probably made by Niels Kock, who signed the pulpit in Auning church. A new decoration. 2 manor pews from ab. 1650 are now in the tower arch. The other pews have gables from the late 1600s. The bell was recast and paid by Jytte Brock of Estrup in 1640. In the southside of the tower room a large grave stone from 1584 with two portrait figures of Gregers Ulfstand Truedsen of Torup and Estrup (+ 1582) and fru Karen Banner, with their son Trud. A Romanesque headstone with cross is walled in the east side of the porch. In the Catholic period was mentioned 2 altar pieces in the church.

Portraits on gravestone: Gregers Ulfstand Truedsen and fru Karen Banner (1582)

Listed prehistorics: 4 hills, of which two are rather large, all lie close in the fields and forest belonging to Gl. Estrup.
Destroyed or demolished: a long dolmen west of Drammelstrup and 33 hills,  mainly placed by Drammelstrup and between Fausing and Gl. Estrup.

Names from the Middle Ages:
Fausing (1379 Faxingh ); Liltved (1464 Lille twedh, 1479 Lilltwedh); Drammelstrup (1467 Drammelstrvp); Grund (1504 Grund march); Gammel Estrup (1. half of 1300s Essendrup, in 1355 Æsendorp, 1463 Æstrop).

Source: Trap Danmark,Randers amt, 1963.

Photo: grethe bachmann & stig bachmann nielsen, Naturplan.dk