Brorupgaard

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Brorupgaard is a Danish manor and estate near Slagelse. The main building you see today was built in the mid-1800s by August Willads Bech, and the Bech family has owned the estate since then.

Medieval to early modern times: Brorupgaard, also called Broderup, was a fief of the Roskilde Bishopric in the Middle Ages. It passed through many owners and, in 1454, was exchanged with Antvorskov Abbey for Svenstrup. After the Reformation it was confiscated by the Crown and became a tenant farm.

18th century changes: In 1679 Poul Nielsen was ennobled as Rosenpalme and Brorupgaard became a manor. He expanded the estate. After his death his widow passed it to their son, who sold it to Berte Skeel. Berte Skeel then sold it in a public auction to Johan Severin Benzon, who owned several estates. In 1740 Ludvig Holberg bought Brorupgaard and expanded it further; he also bought nearby Tersløsegaard.

Holberg left Brorupgaard to Sorø Academy in his will, and the academy opened in 1749. Sorø later sold Brorupgaard in the early 1800s; it changed hands several times, including Mads Jensen Westergaard, then Heinrich Vorbeck, and Lauritz Christophersen Worsøe. After a fire in 1855, August Willads Bech bought Brorupgaard and joined it with Moselund, started a dairy and forest planting, and built the present main building in the 1850s. Bech died in 1877; his wife Margrethe Rothe ran Brorupgaard, and their son Peter Kørgen Bech later inherited Valbygaard. The Bech family has kept Brorupgaard ever since.